t, 









THE ^ y-i^^-^^0*-r^'^ //'J 4^ 

YOUNG MOTHER, 

MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN 



IN REGARD TO HEALTH. 



>^^ 



BY WlVfe'A^.^'ALeOTT, 

Author of the Young Man'l Guide ^ and Editor of the Moral 
Reformer. 



Secontr JEtritfon^ 




BOSTON: 

LIGHT & STEARNS, 1 CORNHILL. 

1836. 






<■••:.. ^.^ "-X 






«, . V, 






^J^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by 
Wm. a. Alcott, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of 
Massachusetts. 



^^// 



ADVERTISEMENT 

TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

The fevor which this volume has met 
with — ^beyond what the author or his most 
sanguine friends could have anticipated — 
encourages him to proceed as rapidly as 
circumstances may admit, in preparing the 
rest of the volumes mentioned in the Adver- 
tisement to the first edition. ^' The Young 
Wife" will appear next, and will embrace 
several topics scarcely, if at all, adverted to 
in any work of the kind which the author 
has yet seen. The volume will be completed 
with the least possible delay. 



i 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. THE NURSERY. 

General remarks. Importance of a nursery. Generally ove?' 
looked. Its walls — ceiling- — windows — chimney. Two apart- 
ments. Sliding partition. Reasons for this arrangement. 
Objections to carpets. Furniture, &c. Feather beds. 
Holes or crevices. Currents of air. Cats and dogs. ^^ Suck- 
ing the child's breath." Brilliant objects. Squinting, . 33 — 36 



CHAPTER II. TEMPERATURE. 

General principle— ^^ Keep cool." Our own sensations not 
always to be trusted. Thermometer. Why infants require 
more external heat than adults. Means of warmth. Air 
heated in other apartments. Clothes taking fire. Stove. 
Railing around it. Excess of heat — its dangers. . . . 37 — 40 



CHAPTER III. VENTILATION. 

General ignorance of the constitution of the atmosphere. The 
subject briefly explained. Oxygen gas. Nitrogen. Car- 
bonic acid. Fires, candles, and breathing, dependent on 
oxygen. Danger from carbonic acid. How it destroys 
people. Impurity of the air by means of lamps and candles. 
Other sources of impurity. Experiment of putting the candle 
under the bed-clothes. Covering the heads of infants while 
sleeping — its dangers. Proportions of oxygen and nitrogen 



CONTENTS. 



in pure and impure air. No wonder children become sickly. 
Particular means of ventilating rooms. Caution in reg-ard 
to lamps. Washing, ironing, cooking, &c., in a nursery. 
Their evil tendency. Fumigation— camphor, vinegar. . 41 — 46 



CHAPTER iV. THE CHILD'S DRESS. 

General principles — 1. To cover us 5 2. To defend us from 
cold 3 3. from injury. 47 

Sec. 1. Swathing the Body. 
Buffon's remarks. Transforming children into mummies. Use 
of a belly-band. Evils produced by having it too tight* 
Cripples sometimes made. Absurdity of confining the arms. 
Infants should be made happy. 47'— 51 

Sec. 2. Form of the Dress. 

Curious suggestion of a London writer. Advantages of his 
plan. Killing with kindness. Dr. Buchan's opinion. Con- 
formity to fashion. Tight-lacing the chest. Its effects. Why 
dangerous. Physiology of the chest. Its motions. An 
attempt to make the subject intelligible. Serious mistakes 
of some writers. Appeal to facts. Color of females. Their 
breathing. Their diseases. Customs of Tunis. Our own 
customs little less ridiculous 51—^1 

Sec. 3. Material. 
Flannel in cold weather. Its use — 1. As a kind of flesh brush 5 
2. As a protection against taking cold 3 3. As a means of 
equalizing the temperature. Clothing should be kept clean- 
often changed-T-color — lightness — softness. Cotton apt to 
take fire. Silk expensive. Linen not wa,rm enough. Flan- 
nel under-clothes. 61 — 64 

Sec. 4. Quantittj. 
The power of habit, in this respect. Opinion that-no clothing 
is necessary. Anecdote of Alexander and the Scythian. 
Arg'ument from analogy. Begin right, in early life. We 
generally use too much clothing. Should clothing be often 
varied ?--objections to it» Avoid dampness 66—69 



CONTENTS. 7 

Sec. 5. Caps. 

How caps produce disease. Nature^s head-dress. Miserable 
apology for caps. What diseases are avoided by going- with 
the head bare. Judicious remarks of a foreign writer. Cov- 
ering the ^'open of the head." Wetting the head with 
spirits 69—71 

Sec. 6. Hats and Bonnets. 

Hats usually too warm. No covering needed in the house ; and 
but little in the sun or rain. Is it dangerous to go with the 
head always bare T 72— -74 

Sec. 7. Covering for the Feet. 

The feet should be well covered. Why. Rule of medical men. 
No garters. Objections to covering the feet considered. 
Shoes useful. Not too thick. Thick soles. Mr. Locke's 
opinion. 75—77 

Sec. 8. Pins. 

These ought not to be used. Why. Substitutes. Practice of 
Dr. Dewees. Needles. Their danger. Shocking emecdote. 77 — ^ 

Sec. 9. Remaining Wet. 

Changing wet clothing. Monstrous error — ^its evils. Clean as 
well as dry. A lame excuse for negligence. No excuse suf- 
ficient but poverty 80—81 

Sec. 10. Remarks on the Dress of Boys. 

Every restraint of body or limb injurious. Tight jackets. Stiff 
stocks and thick cravats. Boots. Evils of having them too 
tight. A painful sight 81—8^ 

Sec. 11. On the Dress of Girls. 

Clothing should be loose for girls or boys. Girls to be kept 
warmer than boys. Few girls comfortable; at home or abroad. 
Going out of warm rooms into the night air. How it pro- 

. motes disease 84—86 



8 CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER V. CLEANLINESS. 

Physiology of the human skin. Of checking perspiration. Dis- 
eases thus produced. ^^Dirt" not ''healthy." How the 
mistake originated. '' Smell of the earth." Effect of un- 
cleanliness on the morals. Filthiness produces bowel com- 
plaints. Changing dress for the sake of cleanliness. . 87 — 94 



CHAPTER VT. BATHING. 

Practice of savage nations. Rather dangerous. Mistake of 
Rousseau. Plunging into cold water at birth may produce 
immediate death. Hundreds injured where one is benefited. 
Spirits added to the water. First washings of the child — 
should be thorough. Rules in regard to the temperature of 
both the water and the air. Washing an introduction to 
bathing. Hour for bathing changes with age. Temperature 
of the water. Size of a bathing vessel. Unreasonable fears 
of the warm bath. How they arose. A list of common 
whims. Apology for opposing cold baths. Dr. Dewees's 
eight objections to them. Does cold water harden ? Cold 
bath sometimes useful under the care of a skilful physician. 
Its danger in other cases. Rules for using the cold bath, if 
used at all. Securing a glow after it. General manage- 
ment. Proper hour. Coming out of the bath. Dressing. 
Singing. Bathing after a meal. Local bathing. Tea-spoon- 
ful of water in the mouth. Its use. The shower bath. Vapor 
bath. Medicated bath. Sponging. Conveniences for bath- 
ing indipensable to every family. General neglect of bath- 
ing. Attention of the Romans to this subject. We treat 
domestic animals better than children 95 — 114 



CHAPTER VII. FOOD. 

Sec. 1. General Principles. 

The mother's milk the only appropriate food of infants. Un- 
reasonableness of some mothers. The tendcnc}^ to ape for- 
eign fashions. Nursing does not weaken the mother. 115 — 119 



CONTENTS. 9 

Sec. 2. Nursing, how often. 
Children should never be nursed to quiet them. Stomach must 
have time for rest. Regular seasons for nursing. Once in 
three hours. Difference of constitution. Indulgence does 
not strengthen. Feeble children require the strictest man- 
agement. Nothing should be given between meals. . 119 — 121 

Sec. 3. Quantity of Food, 
Errors. Repetition of aliment. Variety. Children over-fed. 
Appetite not a safe guide. Training to gluttony. Illustra- 
tions of the principle. Mankind eat twice as much as is 
necessary 121 — 123 

Sec. 4. How long should Milk be the only Food ? 

First change in diet. Objections of mothers. Choice bits. 
Ignorance of the nature of digestion. What digestion is. 
Food which the author of nature assigned 124—126 

Sec. 5. On Feeding before Teething. 
When feeding before teething is necessary. Diet of mothers. 
Substitute for the mothers' milk. How^ prepared. Variety 
not necessary to the infant. Milk best from the same cow. 
Vessels in which it is used should be clean. Sweet milk not 
heated too much. Not frozen. Disgusting practices. Pure 
water. If not pure, boil it. Best of sugar. Is sugar inju- 
rious 1 When the state of the mother's health forbids nursing. 
Use of suckino;--bott]es. Feeding^ should in all cases be slow. 
Jolting children after eating. Tossing. Sucking-bottle as a 
plaything. Evils of using it as such. Dirty vessels. Poison- 
ous ones. Character of nurses. Nursing at both breasts. 
Age of the nurse. Parents should have the oversight, even of 
a nurse 126—138 

Sec. 6. From Teething to Weaning. 

Proper age for weaning. Cullen's opinion. Proper season of 
the year. When the teeth have fairly protruded. First food 
given. New forms of food. Animal broth 138 — -140 



10 CONTENTS. 

Sec. 7. During the Process of Weaning, 
The spring- the best time for weaning. Should not be too sud- 
den. The process— how managed. Exciting an aversion to 
the breast. What solid food should first be given. Buchan's 
opinion. Health of the mother. She should — if possible — 
avoid medicine 141-— 144 

Sec. 8. Food subsequently to Weaning. 

Views of Dr. Cadogan. Half the children that come into the 
world go out of it before they are good for anything. Why ? 
Owing chiefly to errors in nursing, feeding, and clothing. 
Simplicity of children's food. Picture of a modem table. 
Every dish tortured till it is spoiled. Plain, simple food, gen- 
erally despised. How bread is now regarded. How it 
ought to be. Mr. Locke's opinion in favor of bread for young 
children, and against the use of animal food. Does not differ 
materially from that of most medical writers. Vegetable 
food generally preferred to animal. What is true of youth, 
in this respect, is true of every age, with slight exceptions. 
Who require most food. Mere bread and water not best. 
Bread the staple article of diet. Best kind of bread. Objec- 
tions to it. How groundless they are. Fondness for hot, new 
bread not natural. Fondness of change. What it indicates. 
How it is caused. Train up a child in the way he should go. 
We can like what food we please. Second best kind of 
bread. Other kinds. Plain puddings. Indian cakes. Sail 
may be used, in moderate quantity, but no other condiments. 
Of butter, cheese, milk, &c. Potatoes, turnips, onions, beets, 
and other roots. Beans, peas, and asparagus. No fat or 
gravies should be used . 145 — 176 

Sec. 9. Remarks on Fruit. 
Diversity of opinion. The cholera. Fruits useful. Seven plaia 
rules in regard to them. Other rules. A mistake corrected. 
Fruit before breakfast. Four arguments in its favor. Par- 
ticular fruits. Apples. Why fruits brought to market are 
generally unfit to be eaten. Are good, ripe fruits difficult of 
digestion ? Cooking the apple. A man who lives entirely 
on apples. Cutting down orchards. Pears, peaches, melons, 
grapes. Mixing improper substances with summer fruits. 176 — 190 



CONTENTS. 11 

Sec. 10. Confeciionarij. 

Confectionary sonietimes poisonous. Case in New York. 
All; or nearly all confectionaries injurious. Physical evils 
attending- their use. Intellectual evils. Moral evils. The 
last most to be dreaded. Slaves to confectionary are on the 
road to gluttony, drunkenness, or debauchery — perhaps all 
three 190—194 

Sec. 11. Pastry. 

Dr. Paris's opinion of pastry. Various forms of it. Hot flour 
bread a species of it. Produces, among other evils, eruptions 
on the face. Appeal to mothers 194 — 196 

Sec. 12. Crude, or Raw Substances. 

■Sallads, herbs, &c.-^raw — cooked. Nuts, spices, mustard, 
horseradish, onions, cucumbers, pickles, &c. None of these 
should be used, except as modicine 196-— 198 



CHAPTER VIII. DRINKS. 

Infants need little drink. Adults, even, generally drink to cool 
themselves. Simple water the best drink. Opinions of Dr. 
Oliver and Dr. Dewees. Animal food increases thirst. Only 
one real drink in the world. The true object of all drink. 
Tea, coffee, chocolate, beer, &c. Milk and water, molasses 
and water, &c. Cider, wine, and ardent spirits. Bad food and 
drink the most prolific sources of disease. Children naturally 
prefer water. Danger of hot drinks. Cold drinks. Mis- 
chiefs they produce. Caution to mothers. Extracts. Drink- 
ing cold water while hot. ...» . 199 — 208 



CHAPTER IX. GIVING MEDICINE. 

^^ Prevention " better than ^^ cure.'' Nine in ten infantile dis- 
eases caused by errors in diet and drink. Signs of failing 
health. Causes of a bad breath. Flesh eaters. Gormandi- 
zers. General rule for preventing disease. When to call a 
physician. . , 209—214 



12 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER X. EXERCISE. 
Sec, 1. Rocking in the Cradle. 

Objections to the use of cradles. Under what circumstances 
they are least objectionable. 215 — 217 

Sec. 2. Carrying in the Arms. 

Carrying- in the arms a suitable exercise for the first two months 
of life. Dang-er of too early sitting- up. Improper position 
in the arms. Mothers must see to this themselves. Motion 
in the arms should be gentle. No tossing, running or jumping. 
Infants should not always be carried on the same arm. 217—222 

Sec. 3. Crawling. 

Crawling useful to health. Why. Go-carts and leading strings 
prohibited. The longer children crawl, the better. Their 
progress in learning to stand. Let it be slow and natural. 
Let it be, as much as possible, by their own voluntary 
efforts. 222—226 

Sec. 4. Walking. 

Walking in the nursery. Walking abroad. Hoisting children 
into carriages. Walks should not become fatiguing. 226 — 228 

Sec. 5. Riding in Carriages. 
Carriages useful before children can walk. Their construction. 
Should be drawn steadily. Position of the child in them. 
Falling asleep. How long this exercise should be con- 
tinued 228—230 

Sec. 6. Riding on Horseback. 

Never safe for infants. Riding schools. Objections to riding 
on horseback, while very young. Tends to cruelty and 
tyranny. . . , 230— 23« 



CHAPTER XI. AMUSEMENTS. 

Universal need of amusements. Why so necessary. Error of 
schools. Error of families. Infant schools, as often con- 
ducted, particularly injurious. Lessons, or tasks, should be 



CONTENTS. 13 

short. Mistakes of some manual labor schools. Of particu- 
lar amusements in the nursery. With small wooden cubes- 
pictures — shuttlecock— the rocking-horse — tops and marbles 
— ^backg-ammon — checkers — morrice— dice — nine-pins— skip- 
ping- the rope — trundling the hoop — playing at ball — kites—- 
skating and swimming — dissected maps — black boards— ele- 
ments of letters— dissected pictures 233 — ^246 

CHAPTER XII. CRYING. 

Its importance. Danger of repressing a tendency to cry. An- 
ecdote from Dr. Rush. Physiology of crying. Folly of at- 
tempting wholly to suppress it. 247 — 250 

CHAPTER XIII. LAUGHING. 

^' Laugh and be fat.^' Laughing is healthy. A common error. 
Monastic notions yet too prevalent on this subject. . . 251 — 252 

CHAPTER XIV. SLEEP. 

General remarks. A prevalent mistake. A hint to fathers. 
Few Catos. Everything left to mothers 253 — 255 

Sec. 1. Hour for Repose. 

Night the season of repose, generally. Infants require all 
hours. Sleeping in dark rooms. Excess of caution. Habit 
of sleeping amid noise 255 — 256 

Sec. 2. Place. 

Where the infant should sleep. Why alone. Poisoning by impure 
air. Illustration. Proofs. Friedlander. Dr. Dewees. De- 
struction of children by mothers. Anecdote. Moral reasons 
for having children sleep alone. Sleeping with the aged. 
Sleeping with cats and dogs. ...'...... 257—262 

S E c . 3 • Purity of tJie Air. 
Nurseries. Windows open during the night. Lowering them 
from the top. Habit of Dr. Gregory. Going abroad In the 
open air 263— !265 



14 CONTENTS. 

Sec. 4. The Bed. 

No feathers should be used. They are too warm. Their effluvia 
oppressive. Other objections to their use. Mattresses. Air 
beds. Beds of cut straw. Soft beds. Testimony of physi- 
cians. The pillow. Dampness. Curtains. Warming the 
bed. Beds recently occupied by the sick. ..... 265—270 

Sec. 5. Tlie Covering, 

Light covering. Mistakes of some mothers. Covering the 
head with bed clothes 270—271 

Sec. 6. Nighl Dresses. 

As little dress during sleep as possible. No caps. No stock- 
ings. Loose night shirt. No tight articles of night dress. 
Frequent exchanging of clothes 272 — ^274 

Sec. 7. Posture of the Body. 

Sleeping on the back — on the sides. Position of the head. The 
infant's bedstead. Sir Charles BelL Darkening the room. 274 — ^276 

Sec. 8. State of the Mind. 

Mental quiet favorable to sleep. Crying to sleep. A good 
father. All anxiety should be avoided 276—278 

Sec. 9. Quality of Sleep. 

Soundness of our sleep. Nightmare. How produced. Late 
reading. Late suppers. Influence of religion on sleep. Dif- 
ferent opinions about sleep. Truth midway between extremes. 
Effect of silence and darkness on our sleep. Of sleep be- 
fore midnight. Light unfavorable to sleep 278 — ^282 

Sec. 10. Quantity. 

Infants need to sleep nearly the whole time. Number of hours 
required for sleep. Opinions of eminent men. The author's 
own opinion. Statements of Macnish. Estimates on the 
loss of time by over sleeping. Hint to young mothers. 282—286 

CHAPTER XV. EARLY RISING. 

All children naturally early risers. Evils of sitting up late at 
night. Excitements in the evening. The morning, by its 



CONTENTS. 15 

beauties, invites us abroad. Example of parents. Forbidding 
children to rise early. Keeping them out of the way. How 
many are burnt up by parental neglect. ^' Lecturing " them. 
What is an early hour ? . . , . 287—292 



CHAPTER XVI. HARDENING THE CONSTITUTION. 

Mistakes about hardening children. Their clothing. Much cold 
enfeebles. The Scotch Highlanders. The two extremes 
equally fatal-— over-tenderness and neglect. An interesting 
anecdote from Dr. Dewees. . 293—300 



CHAPTER XVII. SOCIETY. 

Duty of mothers in this matter. Children prefer the society of 
parents. Importance of other society. Necessity of society 
illustrated. Early diffidence. Selecting companions for chil- 
dren. Moral effects of society on the young. Parents should 
play with their children 301—306 



CHAPTER XVIII. EMPLOYMENTS. 

Influence of mothers over daughters. Anecdote of Benjamin 
West. Anecdote of a poor mother. Of set lessons and lec- 
tures. Daughters under the mother^s eye. Why young la- 
dies, now-a-days, dislike domestic employments. Miserable 
housewives. Not to be wondered at. Mistake of one class 
of men. Mr. Flint^s opinion 307—^312 



CHAPTER XIX. EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 

Extent to which the senses can be improved. Case of the blind. 
The Indians. Julia Brace. Tailors, painters, &c. . 313 — 315 

Sec. 1. Hearing. 
Iiyury done by caps. Syringing the ears. Anecdote of deafness 
firom neglect. Means of improving the hearing. , . 315—316 



16 CONTENTS. 

Sec. 2. Seeing. 

Importance of seeing-. Near-sig-hted people^ why so common. 
Heat of our rooms. Very fine print. Spectacles. Reading- 
when tired. Rubbing the eyes. Cold water to the eyes. 316—319 

Sec. 3. Tasting and Smelling. 

Benumbing- the senses. How this has often been done. The 
teeth. How to preserve them. . 319—320 

Sec. 4. Feeling. 

Corpulence and slovenliness. Sense of touch. The blind- 
how taught to read. Hint to parents. The hand. Neglect- 
ing- the left hand. Physiolog-y of the hand and arm. Evils of 
being able to use but one hand. Both should be educated. 320 — 324 



CHAPTER XX. ABUSES. 

Bad seats of children at table and elsewhere. Why children 
hate Sunday. Seats at Sabbath school — at church — at dis- 
trict schools. Suspending children between the heavens and 
the earth. Cushions to sit on. Seats with backs. Children 
in factories. The evils it produces. Bodily punishment. 
Striking the heads of children very injurious. Beating across 
the middle of the body. Anecdote of a teacher. Concluding 
advice to mothers 325—332 



PREFACE 



There is a prejudice abroad, to some extent, 
against agitating the questions — ^/What shall 
we eat? What shall we drink? and Where- 
withal shall we be clothed ? " — not so much be- 
cause the Scriptures have charged us not to 
be over ^'anxious" on the subject, as because 
those who pay the least attention to what they 
eat and drink are supposed to be, after all, the 
most healthy. 

• It is not difficult to ascertain how this opin- 
ion originated. There are a few individuals 
who are perpetually thinking and talking on 
this subject, and who would fain comply with 
appropriate rules, if they knew what they 
were, and if a certain definite course, pursued 
2 



18 PREFACE. 

a few days only, would change their whole 
condition, and completely restore a shattered 
or ruined constitution. But their ignorance of 
the laws which govern the human frame, both 
in sickness and in health, and their indisposi- 
tion to pursue any proposed plan for their im- 
provement long enough to receive much perma- 
nent benefit from it, keep them, notwithstand- 
ing all they say or do, always deteriorating. 

Then, on the other hand, there are a few 
who, in consequence of possessing by nature 
very strong constitutions, and laboring at some 
active and peculiarly healthy employment, are 
able for a few, and perhaps even for many 
years, to set all the rules of health at defiance. 

Now strange as it may seem, these caseSj 
though they are only exceptions (and those 
more apparent than real) to the general rule, 
are always dwelt upon, by those who are de- 
termined to live as they please, and to put no 
restraint either upon themselves or their appe- 



PREFACE. Id 

tites. For nothing can be plainer — so it seems 
to me — than that taking mankind by famihes, 
or what is still better, by larger portions, they 
are most free from pain and disease, as well as 
most healthy and happy, who pay the most 
attention to the laws of human health, that 
is, those laws or rules by whose observance 
alone, that health can be certainly and per- 
manently secured. 

But these families and communities are most 
healthy and happy, not because they live in a 
proper manner by fits and starts, but because 
they have, from some cause or other, adopted 
and persevered in habits which, compared 
with the habits of other families, or other com- 
munities, are preferable ; that is, more in obe- 
dience to the laws which govern the human 
constitution. Not that even they are ^'without 
sin" or error on this subject — gross error too — 
but because their errors are fewer or less de- 
structive than those of their neighbors. 



20 PREFACE, 

Now is it possible that any intelligent father 
or mother of a family whose diet, clothing, ex- 
ercise, &c. are thus comparatively well regu- 
lated, would derive no benefit from the peru- 
sal of works which treat candidly, rationally, 
and dispassionately, on these points? Is there 
a mother in the community who is so desti- 
tute of reason and common sense as not to 
desire the light of a broader experience in re- 
gard to the tendency of things than she has 
had, or possibly can have, in her own family? 
Is there one who will not be aided by under- 
standing not only that a certain thing or course 
is better than another, but also why it is so ? 

It is by no means the object of this little 
work to set people to watching their stomachs 
from meal to meal, in regard to the effects of 
food, drink, &c.; for nothing in the world is 
better calculated to make dyspeptics than this. 
It is true, indeed, that some things may be 
obviously and greatly injurious, taken only 



PREFACE. 21 

once; and when they are so, they should be 
avoided. But in general, it is the eifect of a 
habitual use of certain things for a long time 
together — and the longer the experiment the 
better — which we are to observe. 

A book to guide mothers in the formation of 
early good habits in their offspring, should be 
the result of long observation and much experi- 
ment on these points, but more especially of a 
thorough understanding of human physiology. 
It should not consist so much of the conceits of 
a single brain — perhaps half turned — as of the 
logical deductions of severe science, and facts 
gleaned from the world's history. 

Here is a nation, or tribe of men, bringing 
up children to certain habits, from generation 
to generation, — and such and such is their 
character. Here, again, is another large por- 
tion of our race, who, under similar circum- 
stances of climate, &c. &c., have, for several 
hundred years, educated their children very 



22 PREFACE. 

/ 

differently, and with different results. A com- 
parison of things on a large scale, together with 
a close attention to the constitution and rela- 
tions of the human system, affords ground for 
drawing conclusions which are or may be 
useful. If this book shall not afford light de- 
rived from such sources, it were far better that 
it had never been written. If it only sets people 
to watching over the effects of things taken or 
used only for a single day, instead of leading 
them from early infancy to form in their chil- 
dren such habits as will preclude, in a great 
measure, the necessity of watching ourselves 
daily, then let the day perish from the memory 
of the Avriter, in which the plan of bringing it 
forth to the world was conceived. 

But he is confident of better things. He 
does not believe that a work which, to such 
an extent, gives the reason why, will be pro- 
ductive of more evil than good. On the con- 
trary, it must, if read, have the opposite effect 



PREFACE. 23 

I do not deny that even after the formation 
of the best habits, there will be a necessity of 
paying some attention to what we eat and 
what we drink, from day to day, and from 
hour to hour; but only that the tendency of 
this work is not to increase this necessity, but 
on the contrary, to diminish it. In my own 
view, these occasions of inquiry in regard to 
what is right, physically as well as morally^ 
are one part of our trials in this world — one 
means of forming our characters. We are 
constantly tempted to excess and to error, in 
spite of the most firm habits of self-denial 
which can be formed. If we resist temptation, 
our characters are improved. And it is by 
self-denial and self-government in these smaller 
matters, that we are to hope for nearly all the 
progress we can ever make in the great work 
of self-education. Great trials of character 
come but seldom ; and when they come, we 
are often armed against them ; but these little 



24 PREFACE. 

trials and temptations coming upon us every 
hour — these it is, after all, that give shape to 
our characters, and make us constantly grow- 
ing either better or worse, both in the sight of 
God and man. But as I have repeatedly said, 
the object of this work is to diminish rather 
than to increase the frequency of these trials, 
useful though they may be, if duly improved, 
in the formation of virtuous, and even of holy 
character. 

There is a sense in which every infant may 
be said to be born healthy, so that we may 
not only adopt the language of the poet. Bow- 
ring, and say 



-" a child is born ; 



Take it and make it a bud of moral beauty/' 

but we may also add — Take it and make it 
beautiful physicall/y. For though a hereditary 
predisposition undoubtedly renders some indi- 
viduals more susceptible than others to par- 



* 



PREFACE. 25 



ticular diseases, yet when the bodily organiza- 
tion of an infant is complete, and the degree of 
vitality which nature gives it sufficient to pro- 
pel the machinery of the frame, it can scarcely 
be regarded as in any other state than that of 
health. 

Now if it be the intention of divine Provi- 
dence (and who will doubt that it is?) that 
the animal body should be capable of resisting 
with impunity the impressions of heat, cold, 
light, air, and the various external influences 
to which, at birth, it is subjected, it may be 
properly asked why this primitive state of 
health cannot be maintained, and diseases, 
and medicines, and even preventives wholly 
avoided. 

But the reason is obvious. Civilized society 
has placed the human race in artificial circum- 
stances. Instead of listening to the dictates of 
reason, making ourselves acquainted with the 
nature of the human constitution, and studying 



26 PREFACE. 

to preserve it in health and vigor, we yield to 
the government of ignorance and presumption. 
The first moment, even, in which we draw 
breath, sees us placed under the control of 
individuals who are totally inadequate to the 
important charge of preserving the infant con- 
stitution in its original state, and aiding its 
progress to maturity. And thus it is that 
though infants, as a general rule, may be said 
to be born healthy, few actually remain so. 
Seldom, indeed, do we find a person who has 
arrived at maturity wholly free from disease, 
even in those parts of our country which are 
reckoned to have the most healthy climate. 

It is indeed commonly said that a large pro- 
portion, both of children and adults, among 
the agricultural portion of our population, are 
healthy. But it is not so. There is room for 
doubt whether, on the whole, the farmers of 
this country are healthier than the mechanics, 
or much more so than the manufacturers ; or 



PREFACE. 27 

the whole mass of the country population 
healthier than that of the crowded city. The 
causes of disease are sufficiently numerous, in 
all places and conditions ; and this will con- 
tinue to be the fact, not merely until parents 
and teachers shall become more enlightened, 
but until many generations have been trained 
under their enlightened influence.^' 

If the children and aduUs among our agri- 
cultural population derive from their employ- 
ments in the open air a more ruddy appear- 
ance than those either of the city or country 
who are confined more to to their rooms, or to 
a vitiated atmosphere, and to numerous other 
sources of disease, and if they appear more 
favored with health, I have learned, by accu- 
rate observation, that these appearances are 
somewhat deceptive. Their active sports and 
employments in the open air give them a 
stronger appetite than any other class of peo- 
ple ; and the indulgence of this appetite, not 



28 PREFACE. 

only with articles which are heating or indi- 
gestible in their nature, but with an unrea- 
sonable quantity even of those which are con- 
sidered highly proper, is almost in an exact 
proportion. And it is hence scarcely possible 
for the causes of disease and premature death 
to be more operative in factories and in cities 
than in farm houses and the country. Indeed 
it may be questioned whether the abuses of 
the ANIMAL part of man — more common in some 
of their forms in country than in city — though 
they may be less conspicuous, are not more 
certainly and even more immediately destruc- 
tive than those abuses which, in city life, and 
bustle, and competition, affect more the moral 
nature. 

Be that as it may, however — for this is not 
the place for the grave discussion of so broad 
a question — one thing, to my mind, is perfectly 
clear, viz., that until physical education shall 
receive more attention from all those who hold 



PREFACE. 29 

the sacred office of instructors pf the young, 
humanity can neither be much elevated nor 
improved. Mothers and schoolmasters espe- 
cially — they who, as Dr. Rush says, plant the 
seeds of nearly all the good or evil in the 
world — must understand, most deeply and 
thoroughly, the laws which regulate the va- 
rious provinces of the little world in which the 
soul resides, and which, like so many states of 
a great confederacy, have not only their sepa- 
rate interests and rights, but certain common 
and general ones ; as well as those laws by 
which the human constitution is related to 
and connected with the objects which every- 
where surround, and influence, and limit, and 
extend it. 

This book contains little if anything new to 
those who are already familiar with anatomy 
and physiology. Indeed, whatever may be its 
claims, its merits or its demerits, it disclaims 
novelty. It is, indeed, in one point of view, 



30 PREFACE. 

original ; — I mean, in its fomij manner and 
arrangement. What I have written is chiefly 
from my own resources — the results of patient 
study and observation, and careful reflection ; 
but that study and observation of human na- 
ture, and this reflection, have been greatly 
aided by reading the writings of others. 

In the prosecution of the task which I had 
assigned myself, no work has been of more 
service to me than an octavo volume of 548 
pages, by Dr. Wm. P. Dewees, of Philadel- 
phia, entitled, ^'A Treatise on the Physical 
and Medical Treatment of Children." It is 
one of the most valuable works on Physical 
Education in the English language, as is evi- 
dent from the fact that notwithstanding its 
expense-^three or four dollars — it has, in nine 
years, gone through five editions. If it were 
written in such a style, and published at such 
a price as would bring it within reach of the 
minds and purses of the mass of the commu- 



PREFACE. 31 

nity, its sale would have been, I think, much 
greater still ; and the good which it has ac- 
complished would have been increased ten 
fold. 

If the ^^ Young Mother" should be favora- 
bly received by the American community, and 
prove extensively useful, it will undoubtedly 
be owing to the fact that it presents so large a 
collection of facts and principles on the great 
subject of physical education, in a manner so 
practical, and at a price which is very low. 
To accomplish an object so desirable is by no 
means an easy task. It was once said by the 
author of a huge volume, that he wrote so 
large a work because he had not time to pre- 
pare a smaller one. And however unaccount- 
able it may be to those who have not made 
the trial, it may be safely asserted that to pre- 
sent, within limits so small, anything like a 
system of Physical Education for the guidance 
of young mothers, requires much more time, 



32 PREFACE. 

and labor, and patience, than to prepare a 
work on the same subject twice as large. 
Nor is it to be expected that the work is per- 
fect, after all. Future editions — should they 
be demanded — may supply deficiencies ; and 
farther examination, observation, and reflection 
furnish material for alterations. 



i 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE NURSERY. 



Preliminary remarks. An apology. 

It is far from being in the power of every young 
mother to procure a suitable room for a nursery. 
In the present state of society, the majority must 
be contented with such places as they can get. 
Still there are various reasons for saying what a 
nursery should be. 1. It may be of service to 
those who have the power of selection. 2. Infor- 
mation cannot injure those who have not, 3. It 
may lead those w^ho have wealth to extend the 
hand of charity in this important direction ; for 
there are not a few who have little sympathy with 
tlie wants and distresses of the adult poor, who 
will yet open their hearts and unfold their hands 
for the relief of suffering infancy. 

Among those who have what is called a nur- 
sery, few select for this purpose the most appro- 
3 



34 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Situation of the nursery. Its construction. 

.... . . H - .l u 

priate part of the building. It is not unfrequently 
the one that can best be spared, is most retired, or 
most convenient. Whether it is most favorable to 
the health and happiness of its occupants, is usually 
at best a secondary consideration. 

But this ought not so to bek A nursery should 
never, for example, be on a ground floor, or in a 
shaded situation, or in any circumstances which 
expose it to dampness, or hinder the occasional 
approach of the light of the sun. It should be 
spacious, with dry walls, high ceiling, and tight 
windows. The latter should always be so con- 
structed that the upper sash can be lowered, when 
we wish to admit or exclude air. It should have 
a chimney, if possible ; but if not, there should be 
suitable holes in the ceiling, for the purposes of 
ventilation. 

The windows should have shutters, so that the 
room, when necessary, can be darkened — and green 
curtains. Some v/riters say that the windows 
should have cross bars before them ; but if they 
do not descend within three feet of the floor, such 
an arrangement can hardly be required. 
C It is highly desirable that every nursery should 
consist of two rooms, opening into each other ; or 
what is still better, of one large room, with a sliding 
or swinging partition in the middle. The u§a 



THE NURSERY. 35 



Its interior. Partition. Furniture. 

of this is, that the mother and child may retire to 
one, while the other is being swept or ventilated. 
They would thus avoid damp air, currents and 
dust. Such an arrangement would also give the 
occupants a room fresh, clean and sw^eet, in the 
morning, (which is a very great advantage,) after 
having rendered the air of the other foul by 
sleeping in it. ' 

In winter, and while there is an infant in the 
nursery, just beginning to walk, it is recommended 
by many to cover the floor wdth a carpet. The 
only advantage which they mention is, that it 
secures the child from injury if it falls. But I 
have seldom seen lasting injury inflicted by simple 
falls on the hard floor; and there are so many 
objections to carpeting a nursery, since it favors an 
accumulation of dust, bad air, damp, grease, and 
other impurities, that it seems to me preferable to 
omit it. Many physicians, I must own, recom- 
mend carpets during winter, though not in sum- 
mer ; and in no case, unless they are well shaken 
and aired, at least once a week. 

No furniture should be admissible, except the 
beds for the mother and child, a table, and a 
few chairs. With the best writers and highest 
authorities on the subject, I am decidedly of the 
opinion that all feather beds ought effectually and 



36 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Crevices. Cats and dogs. Bright objects. 

forever to be excluded from nurseries. The rea- 
sons for this prohibition will appear hereafter. 

Every nursery should, if possible, be free from 
holes or crevices ; otherwise the occupants will be 
exposed to currents of air, and their sometimes 
terrible and always injurious consequences. The 
room may, in this way, be kept at a lower medium 
temperature — a point of very great importance. 

Cats and dogs, I believe, are usually excluded 
from the nursery ;— if not, they ought to be. For 
though the apprehension of cats' "sucking the 
child's breath," is wholly groundless, yet they 
may be provoked, by the rude attacks of a child, 
to inflict upon it a lasting injury. Besides, they 
assist, by respiration, in contaminating the air, like 
all other animals. 

One thing more. If there are, in the nursery, 
objects which, from the vivacity or briUiancy of 
their colors, attract the attention of the child, they 
should never be presented to them sidew ays, or 
immediately over their heads. The reason for 
this caution is, that children seek, and pursue 
almost instinctively, bright objects; and are thus 
liable to contract a habit of moving their eyes 
in an oblique direction, which may terminate m 
squinting. ; 



CHAPTER IL 



TExMPERATURE. 



A general rule. Will it apply here ? 

There is one general principle, on this sub- 
ject, which is aUke applicable to all persons and 
circumstances. It is, to keep a little too cool, 
rather than in the slightest degree too warm. In 
other words, the lowest temperature which is com- 
patible with comfort, is, in all cases, best adapted 
to health ; and a slight degree of coldness, pro- 
vided it amount not to a chill, and is not long 
continued, is more safe than the smallest unneces- 
sary degree of warmth. 

But the application of this rule to those over 
Vi^hom we have control, is not without its difficul- 
ties. Our own sensations are so variable, inde- 
pendent of external and obvious causes, that we 
cannot at all times judge for others, especially for 
infants. The absolute and real state of tempera- 
ture in a room can only be ascertained with the 
aid of a thermometer ; and no nursery should ever 
be without one. It should be placed, however, 
in such a situation as to indicate the real tempera- 



38 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Use of a thermometer. Of heated air. 

ture of the atmosphere, and not where it will give 
a false result. 

No mother should forget that the infant, at 
birth, has not the power of generating heat, inter- 
nally, to the extent which it possesses afterward. 
The lungs have as yet but a feeble, inefficient 
action. The purification of the blood, through 
their agency, is not only incomplete, but the heat 
evolved is as yet inconsiderable. In the absence 
of internal heat, then, there is an increased de- 
mand externallJ^ If 60^ be deemed suitable for 
most other persons, the new-born infant may, for 
a few days, require 65^ or even 70^. 

Much may and should be done in preserving 
the child in a proper temperature by means of its 
clothing. On this point I shall speak at length, 
in another part of this work. My present pur- 
pose is simply to treat of the temperature of the 
nursery. 

The best way of warming a nursery — or indeed 
any other room, where mere warmth is de- 
manded — is by means of air heated in other apart- 
ments, and admitted through openings in the floor 
or fire-place. The air is not only thus made 
more pure, but every possibility of accidents, such 
as having the clothes take fire, is precluded. This 
last consideration is one of very great importance, 



t 



TEMPERATURE. 39 



Stoves. Objections to fire-places. 

and I hope will not be much longer overlooked 
in infantile education. 

Next to that, in point of usefulness and safety, 
is a stove, placed near or in the fire-place, and 
defended by an iron railing. Most people prefer 
an open scove ; and on some accounts it is indeed 
preferable, especially where it is desirable to burn 
coal. Still I think that the direct rays of the 
heat, and the glare of light from open stoves and 
fire-places, particularly for the young, form a very 
serious objection to their use. 

One of the strongest objections to open stoves 
and fire-places in the nursery is, the increased ex- 
posure to accidents. I know it is said that this 
evil may be avoided by laying aside the use of 
cotton, and wearing nothing but worsted or flan- 
nel. This is indeed true ; but I do not like the 
idea of being compelled to dress children in flan- 
nel or worsted, at all times when the least particle 
of fire is demanded ; for this would be to wear 
this stimulating kind of clothing, in our climate, 
the greater part of the year. 

Besides, I write for many mothers who are 
compelled to use cotton, on account of the ex- 
pense of flannel. And if the stove be a close 
one, and well defended by a railing, cotton will 
seldom expose to danger. Still, as has been 



40 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Excessive heat. Its dang^ers. 

already said, the introduction of heated air from 
another apartment, whenever it can possibly be 
afforded, is incomparably better than either stoves 
or fire-places. 

Dr. Dewees is fully persuaded that the exces- 
sive heat of nurseries has occasioned a great mor- 
tality among very young children. " In the first 
place," he says, '^ it over-stimulates them ; and in 
the second, it renders them so susceptible of cold, 
that any draught of cold air endangers their lives. 
They are in a constant perspiration, which is fre- 
quently checked by an exposure to even an atmos- 
phere of moderate temperature." If this is but 
to repeat what has already been said, the im- 
portance of the subject seems to be a sufficient 
apology. 



CHAPTER III. 



VENTILATION. 



Necessity of pure air. Why. 

Few people take sufficient pains to preserve 
the air in any of their apartments pure ; for few 
know what the constitution of our atmosphere is, 
and in how many ways and with what ease it is 
rendered impure. 

It is not my purpose to go into a learned, scien- 
tific account in this place or even in this work, of 
the constitution of the atmosphere. A few plain 
statements are all that are indispensable. 

The atmosphere which we breathe is composed 
of two different airs or gases. One of these is 
called oxygen,"^ and the other nitrogen. There 



* Oxygen gas is the chief supporter of combustion, as 
well as of respiration. It is the vital part, as it were, of 
the air. No animal or vegetable could long exist without 
it. And yet if alone, unmixed, it is too pure and too 
refined for animals to breathe. Nitrogen gas, on the 
contrary, while alone, will not support either respiration 
or combustion ; mixed, however, with oxygen, it dilutes 
it, and in the most happy manner fits it for reception into 
the lungs. 



42 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Oxygen and nitrogen. Their uses. 

is another gas usually found with these two, in 
smaller quantity, called carbonic acid gas ; but 
whether it is necessary, in a very small quantity, 
to health, chemists, I believe, are not agreed. 
One thing, however, is certain — that if any portion 
of it is healthful, it must be very little — not more, 
certainly, than one-fiftieth or one-hundredth of the 
whole mass. 

It is by means of the oxygen it contains, that 
air sustains life and combustion. Were it not for 
this, neither fires nor candles would burn, and no 
animal could breathe a single moment. Breath- 
ing consumes this oxygen of the air very rapidly. 
When the oxygen is present in about a certain 
proportion, combustion and respiration go on well: 
but when its natural proportion is diminished, the 
fire does not burn so well, neither does the candle ; 
and no one can breathe so freely. 

Not only are breathing and combustion im- 
peded or disturbed by the diminution of oxygen 
in the atmosphere, but just in proportion as oxy- 
gen is diminished by these two processes, or either 
of them, carbonic acid is formed, which is not only 
bad for combustion, but much worse for health. 
If any considerable quantity of it is inhaled, it 
appears to be an absolute poison to the human 
system : and if in very large quantity, will often 
cause immediate death. 



VENTILATION. 43 



Carbonic acid g-as. Other impurities. 

It is this gas, accumulated in large quantities, 
that destroys so many people in close rooms, 
where there is no chimney, nor any other place 
for the bad air to escape. But it not only kills 
people outright — it partly kills, that is, it poisons, 
more or less, hundreds of others. 

In a nursery there is the mother and child, and 
perhaps the nurse, to render the air impure by 
breathing, the fire and the lamp or candle to con- 
tribute to the same result, besides several other 
causes not yet mentioned. One of these is nearly 
related to the former. I allude to the fact that 
our skins, by perspiration and by other means, are 
a source of much impurity to the atmosphere ; a 
fact which will be more fully explained and illus- 
trated in the chapters on Bathing and Cleanliness. 
It is only necessary to say, in this place, that it is 
not the matter of perspiration alone which, issuing 
from the skin, renders the air impure; there are 
other exhalations more or less constantly going off 
from every living body, especially from the lungs ; 
and carbonic acid gas is even formed all over the 
surface of the skin, as well as by means of the 
lungs. 

One needs no better proof that carbonic acid is 
formed on the surface of the body, than the fact 
that after the body has been closely covered all 



44 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Curious fact. Covering- the head in sleep. 

night, if you introduce a candle under the bed- 
clothes into this confined air, it will be quickly 
extinguished, because there is too much carbonic 
acid gas there, and too little oxygen. 

We may hence see at once the evil of covering 
the heads of infants when they lie down — a very 
common practice. The air, when pure, contains 
a little more than 20 parts of oxygen, and a little 
less than 80 of nitrogen. Breathing this air, as I 
have already shown, consumes the oxygen, which 
is so necessary to life and health, and leaves in its 
place an increase of nitrogen and carbonic acid 
gas, which are not necessary to health, and the 
latter of which is even positively injurious. But 
when the oxygen, instead of forming 20 or more 
parts in 100 of the atmosphere of the nursery, is 
reduced to 15 or 18 parts only, and the carbonic 
acid gas is increased from 1 or 2 parts in 100, 
to 5, 6, 8 or 10 — when to this is added the other 
noxious exhalations from the body, and from the 
lamp or candle, fire-place, feather bed, stagnant 
fluids in the room, fcc, &:c. — is it any wonder 
that children, in the end, become sickly ? What 
else could be expected but that the seeds of dis- 
ease, thus early sown, should in due time spring 
up, and produce their appropriate fruits ? 



VENTILATION. 45 



Does fire purify the air ? Feather beds. 

It is sometimes said that fire in a room purifies it. 
It undoubtedly does so to a certain extent^ if fi:esh 
air be often admitted ; but not otherwise. 

I have classed feather beds among the common 
causes of impurity. Dr. Dewees also condemns 
them, most decidedly; and gives substantial reasons 
for '^ driving them from the nursery." 

In speaking of the structure of the room used 
for a nursery, I have adverted to the importance 
of having a large or double room, with sliding 
doors between, in order that the occupants may 
go into one of them, while the other is being ven- 
tilated. But whatever may be the structure of 
the room, the circumstances of the occupants, or 
the state of the weather, every nursery ought to 
be most thoroughly ventilated, once a day, at 
least ; and when the weather is tolerable, twice a 
day. If there is but one apartment, and fear is 
entertained of the dampness of the fresh air intro- 
duced, or of currents, and if the mother and babe 
cannot retire, there is a last resort, which is for 
them to get into bed, and cover themselves a 
short time with the clothino;. For thoutrh I have 
prohibited the covering of the face with the bed- 
clothes for any considerable length of time together, 
yet to do so for some fifteen or twenty minutes, is an 
evil of far less magnitude than to suffer an apart- 



46 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Lamps in a nursery. Washing, ironing-, &c. 

ment to remain without being ventilated, for twenty- 
four hours together — a very common occurrence. 

When a lamp is kept burning in a nursery 
during the night, it should always be placed at 
the door of the stove, or in the chimney-place, 
that its smoke, and the bad airs or gases which 
are formed, may escape. But it is better, in gen- 
eral, to avoid burning lamps or candles during the 
night. By means of common matches, a light 
may be produced, when necessary, almost in- 
stantly ; especially if you have a spirit lamp in the 
nursery, or what is still better, one of spirit gas — 
that is, a mixture of alcohol and turpentine. 

It is highly desirable that all washing, ironing 
and cooking should be avoided in the nursery. 
They load the air with noxious effluvia or vapor, 
or with particles of dust ; none of which ought 
ever to enter the delicate luno-s of an infant. 

Fumigations with camphor, vinegar and other 
similar substances, have long been in reputation as 
a means of purifying the air in sick-rooms and nur- 
series : but they are of very little consequence* 
Fresh air, if it can be had, is always better. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE CHILD'S DRESS. 



Object of dress. SM^athing- the body. 

Dress serves three important purposes: — 1. To 
cover us ; 2. To defend us against cold ; 3. To 
defend our bodies and limbs from injury. There 
is one more purpose of dress — in case of deformity, 
it serves to improve the appearance. 

In all our arrangements in regard to dress, 
whether of children or of adults, we should ever 
keep in mind the above principles. The form, 
fashion, material, application, and quantity of all 
clothing, especially for infants, ought to be regu- 
lated by these three or four rules. 

The subject of this chapter is oiie of so much 
importance, and embraces such a variety of items, 
that it will be more convenient, both to the reader 
and myself, to consider it under several minor 
heads. 

Sec. 1. Swathing the Body. 

BufFon, in his "Natural History," says that in 
France, an infant has hardly enjoyed the liberty 
of moving and stretching its limbs, before it is put 



48 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

French mode of swathing. Only a simple band necessary. 

into confinement. ^^ It is swathed/' says he, " its 
head is fixed, its legs are stretched out at full 
length, and its arms placed straight down by the 
side of its body. In this manner it is bound tight 
with cloths and bandages, so that it cannot stir a 
limb ; indeed it is fortunate that the poor thing is 
not muffled up so as to be unable to breathe." 

All swathing, except with a single bandage 
around the abdomen, is decidedly unreasonable, 
injurious and cruel. I do not pretend that the 
remarks of M. BufFon are fully applicable to the 
condition of infants in the United States. The 
good sense of the community nowhere permits us 
to transform a beautiful babe quite into an Egyp- 
tian mummy. Still there are many considerable 
errors on the subject of infantile dress, which, in 
the progress of my remarks, I shall find it neces- 
sary to expose. 

The use of a simple band cannot be objected 
to. It affords a general support to the abdomen, 
and a particular one to the umbilicus. The last 
point is one of great importance, where there 
is any tendency to rupture at this part of the 
body — a tendency which very often exists In fee- 
ble children. And without some support of this 
kind, crying, coughing, sneezing, and straining in 
any way, might greatly aggravate the evil, if not 
produce serious consequences. 



THE child's dress. 49 

Tight swathing-. Its evil consequences. 

But, in order to afford a support to the abdo- 
men in the best manner, it is by no means neces- 
sary that the bandage should be drawn very tight. 
Two thirds of the nurses in this country greatly 
err in this respect, and suppose that the more 
tightly a bandage is drawn, the better. It should 
be firm, but yet gently yielding ; and therefore a 
piece of flannel cut ^' bias," as it is termed, or 
obhquely with respect to the threads of which it is 
composed, is the most appropriate material. 

If the attention of the mother were necessary 
nowhere else, it would be indispensable in the 
application of this article. If she do not take 
special pains to prevent it, the erring though well 
meaning nurse may so compress the body with 
the bandage as to produce pain and uneasiness, 
and sometimes severe colic. Nay, worse evils 
than even this have been known to arise. When 
a child sneezes, or coughs, or cries, the abdomen 
should naturally yield gently ; but if it is so con- 
fined 4hat it cannot yield where the band is 
applied, it will yield in an unnatural proportion 
below, to the great danger of producing a species 
of rupture, no less troublesome than the one which 
such tight swathing is designed to prevent. 

But besides the bandage already mentioned, no 
other restraint of the body and limbs of a child 
4 



50 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Confining" the body and limbs. Making- cripples. 

is at all admissible. The Creator has kindly 
ordained that the human body and limbs, espe- 
cially its muscles, or moving powers, shall be 
developed by exercise. Confine an arm or a leg, 
even in a child of ten years of age, and the limb 
will not increase either in strength or size as it 
otherwise would, because its muscles are not 
exercised ; and the fact is still more obvious in 
infancy. 

There is a still deeper evil. On all the limbs 
are fixed two sets of muscles ; one to extend, the 
other to draw up or bend the limb. If you 
keep a limb extended for a considerable time, you 
weaken the one set of m-uscles ; if you keep it 
bent, you weaken the other. This weakness 
may become so great that the limb will be ren- 
dered useless. There are cases on record — w^ll 
authenticated — -where children, by being obliged 
to sit in one place on a hard floor, have been 
made cripples for life. Hundreds of others are 
injured, though they may not become absolutely 
crippled. 

I repeat it, therefore, their dress should be so 
free and loose that they may use their little limbs, 
their necks and their bodies, as much as they 
please; and in every desired direction. The prac- 
tices of confining their arms while they lie down, 



THE child's dress. 51 

Restraint of plants and animals. Form of the dress. 

for fear they should scratch themselves with their 
nails, and of pinning the clothes round their feet, 
are therefore highly reprehensible. Better that 
they should even occasionally scratch themselves 
with their nails, than that they should be made 
the victims of injurious restraint. Who would 
think of tying up or muffling the young lamb or 
kid? And even the young plant — what think 
you would be the effect if its leaves and branches 
could not move gently with the soft breezes ? 
Would the fluids circulate, and health be pro- 
moted ; or w^ould they stagnate, and a morbid, 
sickly and dwarfish state be the consequence ? 

Those whose object is to make infancy, as well 
as^ any other period of existence, a season of hap- 
piness, will not fail to find an additional motive for 
giving the little stranger entire freedom in the land 
whither he has so recently arrived, especially 
when he seems to enjoy it so much. Who can 
be so hardened as to confine him, unless com- 
pelled by the most pressing necessity ? 

Sec. 2. Form of the Dress. 

On this subject a WTiter in the London Literary 
Gazette of some eight or ten years ago, lays down 
the following general directions, to which, in cold 



52 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Plan of an English writer. Its advantages. 

weather^ there can be but one possible objection, 
which is, they are not alamode, and are not, there- 
fore, likely to be followed : 

" All that a child requires, so far as regards 
clothing, in the first month of its existence, is a 
simple covering for the trunk and extremities of 
the body, made of a material soft and agreeable to 
the skin, and which can retain, in an equable de- 
gree, the animal temperature. These qualities are 
to be found in perfection in fine flannel ; and I 
recommend that the only clothing, for the first 
month or six weeks, be a square piece of flannel, 
large enough to involve fully and overlap the whole 
of the babe, wdth the exception of the head,W"hich 
should be left totally uncovered. This wrapper 
should be fixed by a button near the breast, and 
left so loose as to permit the arms and legs to be 
freely stretched, and moved in every direction. It 
should be succeeded by a loose flannel gown with 
sleeves, which should be worn till the end of the 
second month ; after which it may be changed to 
the common clothing used by children of this 
age." 

The advantages of such a dress are, that the 
movements of the infant will be, as w^e have 
already seen, free and unrestrained, and we shall 
escape the misery of hearing the screams which 



THE child's dress. 53 

Healthful sympathies. Killing- children by kindness. 

now so frequently accompany the dressing and 
undressing of almost every child. No chafings 
from friction, moreover, can occur ; and as the 
insensible perspiration is in this way promoted over 
the whole surface of the body, the sympathy 
between the stomach and skin is happily main- 
tained. A healthy sympathy of this kind, duly kept 
up, does much towards preserving the stomach in 
a good state, and the skin from eruptions and 
sores. 

But as I apprehend that Christianity is not yet 
very deeply rooted in the minds and hearts of pa- 
rents, I have already expressed my doubts whether 
they are prepared to receive and profit by advice 
at once rational and physiological. Still I cannot 
help hoping that I shall succeed in persuading 
mothers to have every part of a child's dress per- 
fectly loose, except the band already referred to ; 
and that should be but moderately tight. 

Common humanity ought to teach us better 
than to put the body of a helpless infant into a 
vise, and press it to death, as the first mark of 
our attention. Who has not been struck with a 
strange inconsistency in the conduct of mothers 
and nurses, who, while they are so exceedingly 
tender towards the infant in some points as to in- 
jure it by their kindness, are yet almost insensible 



54 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Dr. Buchan's opinion. Opinion of the author. 

to its cries of distress while dressing it ? So far, 
indeed, are they from feeling emotions of pity, 
that they often make light of its cries, regarding 
them as signs of health and vigor. 

There can be no doubt, I confess, that the first 
cries of an infant, if strong, both indicate and pro- 
mote a healthy state of the lungs, to a certain 
extent; but there will always be unavoidable occa- 
sions enough for crying to promote health, even 
after we have done all we can in the way of 
avoidnig pain. They who only draw the child's 
dress the tighter, the more it cries, are guilty of 
a crime of little less enormity than murder. 

'^ Think," says Dr. Buchan, '^ of the immense 
number of children that die of convulsions soon 
after birth; and be assured that these (its cries) 
S,re much oftener owing to galling pressure, or 
some external injury, than to any inward cause." 
This same writer adds, that he has known a child 
which was '^ seized with convulsion fits " soon 
after being ^^ swaddled," immediately relieved by 
taking oft^ the rollers and bandages ; and he says 
that a loose dress prevented the return of the 
disease. 

I think it is obvious that the utmost extent to 
which we ought to go, in yielding to the fashion, 
a^ it regards form, is to use three pieces of cloth- 



i 



THE child's dress. 55 

Tight lacing. This work of torture should be prevented. 

ing — the shirt, the petticoat and the frock ; all of 
which must be as loose as possible ; and before 
the infant begins to crawl about much, the latter 
should be long, for the sake of covering the feet 
and legs. At four or five years of age, loose 
trowsers, with boys, may be substituted for the 
petticoat ; but it is a question whether something 
like the frock might not, with every individual, be 
usefully retained through life. 

I wish it were unnecessary, in a book like this, 
to join in the general complaint against tight lacing 
any part of the body, but especially the chest. 
But as this work of torture is sometimes begun 
almost from the cradle, and as prevention is better 
than cure, the hope of preventing that for which 
no cure appears yet to have been found, leads me 
to make a few remarks on the subject. 

As it has long been my opinion that one reason 
why mothers continue to overlook the subject is, 
that they do not understand the structure and 
motion of the chest, I have attempted the follow- 
ing explanation and illustration. 

I have already said, that if we bandage tightly, 
for a considerable time, any part of the human 
frame, it is apt to become weaker. The more a 
portion of the frame which is furnished with mus- 
cles, those curious instruments of motion, is used, 



56 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Importance of muscular exercise. Curious facts. 

provided it is not over-exerted, the more vigorous 
it is. Bind up an arm, or a hand, or a foot, and 
keep it bound for twelve hours of the day for 
many years, and think you it will be as strong as 
it otherwise would have been ? Facts prove the 
contrary. The Chinese swathe the feet of their 
infant females ; and they are not only small but 
weak. 

I have said their feet are smaller for being ban- 
daged. So is a hand or an arm. Action — healthy, 
constant action — is indispensable to the perfect 
development of the body and limbs. Why it is 
so, is another thing. But so it is; and it is a 
principle or law of the great Creator which can- 
not be evaded. More than this ; if you bind 
some parts of the body tightly, so as to compress 
them as much as you can without producing 
actual pain, you will find that the part not only 
ceases to grow, but actually dwindles away. I 
have seen this tried again and again. Even the 
solid parts perish under pressure. When a per- 
son first wears a false head of hair, the clasp 
which rests upon the head, at the upper part of 
the forehead, being new and elastic, and pressing 
rather closely, will, in a few months, often make 
quite an indentation in the cranium, or bone of the 
head. 



THE child's dress. 57 

Mistake of mothers. The matter explained. 

Now is it probable — nay, is it possible — that 
the lungs, especially those of young persons, can 
expand and come to their full and natural size 
under pressure, even though the pressure should 
be slight ? Must they not be weakened ? And 
if the pressure be strong, as it sometimes is, must 
they not dwindle away ? 

We know, too, from the nature and structure of 
the lungs themselves, that tight lacing must injure 
them. Many mothers have very imperfect notions 
of what physicians mean, when they say that cor- 
sets impede the circulation, by preventing the full 
and undisturbed action of the lungs. They get 
no higher Ideas of the motion of the chest, than 
what is connected with bending the body forward 
and backward, from right to left, &c. They know 
that, if dressed too tightly, this motion is not 
so free as it otherwise would be ; but if they are 
not so closely laced as to prevent that free bend- 
ing of the body of which I have been speaking, 
they think there can be no danger ; or at least, 
none of consequence. 

Now it happens that this sort of motion is not 
that to which physicians refer, when they com- 
plain of corsets. Strictly speaking, this bending 
of the whole body is performed by the muscles of 
the back, and not those of the chest. The latter 



58 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Nature of the motion of the chest. A bad comparison. 

have very little to do with it. It is true, that 
even this motion ought not to be hindered ; but if 
it is, the evil is one of little comparative magni- 
tude. 

Every time we breathe naturally, all the ribs, 
together with the breast bone, have motion. The 
ribs rise, and spread a little outward, especially 
towards the fore part. The breast bone not only 
rises, but swings forward a little, like a pendulum. 
But the moment the chest is swathed or bandaged, 
this motion must be hindered ; and the more, in 
proportion to the tightness. 

On this point, those persons make a sad mis- 
take, who say that ^' a busk not too wide nor too 
rigid seems to correspond to the supporting spine, 
and to assist, rather than impede the efforts of 
nature to keep the body erect." 

Can we seriously compare the offices of the 
spine with those of the ribs, and suppose that 
because the former is fixed like a post, at the back 
part of the lungs, therefore an artificial post in 
front would be useful ? Why, we might just as 
well argue in favor of hanging weights to a door, 
or a clog to a pendulum, in order to make it swing 
backwards and forwards more easily. We might 
almost as well say that the elbow ought to be 
made firm, to correspond with the shoulders, and 



THE child's dress. 59 

_^ i 

Appeal to facts. The appearance of females. 

thus become advocates for letting the stays or 
bandages enclose the arm above the elbow, and 
fasten it firmly to the side. Indeed, the conse- 
quences in the latter case, aside from a little in- 
convenience, would not be half so destructive to 
health as in the former. The ribs, where they 
join to the back bone, form hinges ; and hinges 
are made for motion. But if you fasten them to 
a post in front, of what value are the hinges ? 

If mothers ask of what use this motion of the 
lungs is, it is only necessary to refer them to the 
chapter on Ventilation, in which I trust the sub- 
ject is made intelligible, and a satisfactory answer 
afforded. 

But I might appeal to facts. Let us look at 
females around us generally. Do their counte- 
nances indicate that they enjoy as good health as 
they did when dress was worn more loosely? 
Have they not oftener a leaden hue, as if the 
blood in them was darker? Are they not oftener 
short-breathed than formerly ? As they advance 
in life, have they not more chronic diseases ? 
Are not their chests smaller and weaker ? And 
as the doctrine, that if one member suffers all the 
other members suffer with it, is not less true 
in physiology than in morals, do we not find 
other organs besides the lungs weakened ? Sur- 



60 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Tight lacing ridiculed. Tunisian custom. 

geons and physicians, who, hke faithful sentinels, 
have watched at their post half a century, tell us, 
moreover, that if these foolish and injurious prac- 
tices to which 1 refer are. tolerated two centuries 
longer, every female will be deformed, and the 
whole race greatly degenerated, physically and 
morally. 

Those with whom no arguments will avail, are 
recommended to read the following remarks from 
the Moral Reformer, Vol. I. p. 119: 

" It is related, on the authority of Macgill, that 
in Tunis, after a girl is engaged, or betrothed, she 
is then fattened. For this purpose, she is cooped 
up in a small room, and shackles of gold and sil- 
ver are placed upon her ancles and wrists, as a 
piece of dress. If she is to be married to a man 
who has discharged, despatched, or lost a former 
wife, the shackles which the former wife wore are 
put on the new bride's limbs, and she is fed till 
they are filled up to a proper thickness. The 
food used for this custom worthy of the barbarians 
is called drough, which is of an extraordinary fat- 
tening quality, and also famous for rendering the 
milk of the nurse rich and abundant. With this 
and their national dish, cuscasoo, the bride is lit- 
erally crammed, and many actually die under the 
spoon. 



THE CHILD S DRESS. 61 

Customs in America. Materials of dress. 

" We laugh at all this, and well we may ; but 
there are customs not very far from home, no less 
ridiculous. 

" There is a country four or five thousand miles 
westward of Tunis, where the females, to a very 
great extent, are emaciat^^d for marriage, instead of 
being fattened. This process is begun, in part, 
by shackles — not of gold and silver, perhaps, but 
of wood — but instead of being put on loosely, and 
causing the body or limbs to fill them, they are 
made to compress the body in the outset ; and as 
the size of the latter diminishes, the shackles are 
contracted or tightened. As with the eastern, so 
with the western females, many of them die under 
the process; though a far greater number die at a 
remote period, as the consequence of it." 

Sec. 3. Material. 

I have already committed myself to the reader 
as favoring the use of soft flannel in cold weather, 
especially for children who are not yet able to run 
about freely in the open air. The advantages of 
an early use of this material, at least for under- 
clothes, are numerous. The following are a few 
of them : 



62 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Reasons for the use of flannel. Cleanliness. 

1. Flannel, next to the skin, is a pleasant flesh 
brush ; keeping up a gentle and equable irritation, 
and promoting perspiration, and every other func- 
tion which it is the office of the skin to perform, 
or assist in performing. 

2. It guards the body against the cooling effects 
of evaporation, v^^hen in a state of profuse perspi- 
ration. 

3. By preventing the heat of the body from 
escaping too rapidly, it keeps up a steadier tem- 
perature on the surface than any other known 
substance. The importance of the last considera- 
tion is greater, in a climate like our own, than 
elsewhere. 

But there are limits to the use of this article of 
clothing. Whenever the temperature of the at- 
mosphere is so great, even without artificial heat, 
that we no longer wish to retain the heat of the 
body by the clothing, then all flannel should be 
removed at once, and linen should be substituted ; 
taking care to replace the flannel whenever the 
temperature of the atmosphere, as indicated by the 
thermometer, or by the child's feelings, may seem 
to require it. 

It should also be kept clean. There is a very 
general mistake abroad on this subject. Many 



THE child's dress. 63 

Caution in reg-ard to flannel. When to be omitted. 

suppose that flannel can be worn longer without 
washing than other kinds of cloth. On the con- 
trary, it should be changed oftener than cotton, or 
even linen, because it will absorb a great deal of 
fluid, especially the matter of perspiration, which, 
if long retained, is believed to ferment, and pro- 
duce unhealthy, if not poisonous gases. For this 
reason, too, flannel for children's clothing should 
be white, that it may show dirt the more readily, 
and obtain the more frequent washing ; although 
it is for this very reason — its liability to exhibit 
the least particles of dirt — that it is commonly 
rejected. 

One caution more in regard to the use of flannel 
may be necessary. With some children, owing 
to a peculiarity of constitution, flannel will produce 
eruptions on the skin, which are very troublesome. 
Whenever this is the case, the flannel should be 
immediately laid aside ; upon which the eruptions 
usually disappear. 

If parents would take proper pains to get the 
lighter, softer kinds of flannel for this purpose, and 
be particular about its looseness and quantity, I 
should prefer, as I have already intimated, to have 
very young children, in our climate, wear this 
material the greater part of the year, excepting 
perhaps July and August. 



64 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

A caution to parents. Sudden changes. 

My reasons for this course would be, first, that 
I like the stimulus of soft flannel on the skin, if 
changed sufficiently often, better than that of any 
other kind of clothing. Secondly, cotton is so liable 
to take fire, that its use in the nursery and among 
little children seems very hazardous. Thirdly, 
silk is not quite the appropriate material, as a 
general thing, besides being too expensive ; and 
fourthly, linen is not warm enough, except in mid- 
summer. 

Except, therefore, in July and August, and in 
cases of idiosyncrasy, such as have just been al- 
luded to, I would use flannel for the under-clothes 
of young children, throughout the year. But 
whenever they acquire sufficient strength to walk 
and run, and play much in the open air, I \, ould 
gradually lay aside the use of all ilannel, even in 
winter. Great attention, however, must be paid 
to the quantity. The parent who, guided by this 
rule, should keep on her child the same amount 
of flannel, and of the same thickness, from Janu- 
ary to June 30th, and then, on the first of July, 
should suddenly exchange it for thin linen, in mod- 
erate quantity, might find trouble from it. It is 
better to make tlie changes more gradually ; other- 
wise, whatever may be the material of the dress^ 
the child will be likely to suffer. 



THE child's dress. 65 

Power of habit. How much clothing" do we really need ? 

Sec. 4. Quantity. 

The quantity of clothing used by different indi- 
viduals of the same age^ in the same climate, pos- 
sessing constitutions nearly alike, and following 
similar occupations, is so different as to 'strike us 
with surprise when we first observe the fact. 

One will wear nothing but a coarse hnen or 
cotton shirt, coarse coat, waistcoat, and pantaloons, 
and boots, in the coldest weather. He never, unless 
it be on the Sabbath, puts on even a cravat, and 
never in any case stockings or mittens. 

Another, in similar circumstances in all respects, 
constantly wears his thick stockings, flannel wrap- 
per and drawers, and cravat ; and seldom goes out 
in cold weather, without mittens and an overcoat. 
He is not a whit warmer ; indeed he often suffers 
more from the cold than his neighbor who dresses 
in the manner just described. 

Why all this difference? It is no doubt the result 
of habit. Any individual may accustom himself 
to much or little clothing. And the earlier the 
habit is begun, the greater is its influence. 

Some persons, observing how little clothing one 
may accustom himself to use and yet be comfort- 
able, have told us, that so far as mere temperature 
is concerned, we need no clothing at all. They 
5 



66 . THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Clothing of other animals. An inference. 

relate the story of the Scythian and Alexander. 
Alexander asked the former how he could go with- 
out clothes in such a cold chniate. He replied, by 
asking Alexander how he could go with his face 
naked. ^^ Habit reconciles us to this ; " was the 
reply. '^ Think me, then, all face," said the 
Scythian. 

But admitting that certain individuals, and even 
a few rude tribes, have gone without clothing; did 
they therefore follow, in this respect, the inten- 
tions of nature ? The greatest stickler for adher- 
ing to nature's plan, cannot prove this. Analogy 
is against it. Most of the other animals, even in 
hot climates, are furnished with a hairy covering 
from the first ; and in cold climates, the Author of 
their being has even provided them with an in- 
crease of clothing for the winter. Their fur, on 
the approach of cold weather, not only becomes 
whiter, and therefore conducts the heat away from 
the body more slowly, but, as every dealer in furs 
well understands, it becomes softer and thicker. 
And yet the blood of the furred animals of cold 
countries is as warm as ours, if not warmer. 

The inferences which it seems to me we ought 
to make from this are, that if other animals require 
clothing, and even a change of clothing, so does 
man ; and that as the Creator has left him to 



THE child's dress. 67 

Some clothiDg indispensable. The general rule. 

provide, by his own ingenuity, for a great many of 
his wants, instead of furnishing him with instinct 
to direct him, so in relation to dress. And even 
if it could be proved that dress were naturally un- 
necessary, with reference to temperature, I should 
still defend its use on other principles. The few 
speculative minds, therefore, that in the vagaries 
of their fancy, but never in their practice, reject it, 
are not to be regarded. 

The great principle laid down in the commence- 
ment of the chapter on Temperature, is the great 
principle which should guide us in regard to dress. 
But although we should always keep a httle too 
cool rather than a Httle too warm, it is by no 
means desirable to be cold. Any degree of chilli- 
ness, long continued, interrupts the functions which 
the skin ought to perform, and thus produces mis- 
chief. 

The same rules, in this respect, apply to eating, 
as well as to dress. It is better to eat a little less 
than nature requires, than a little more. It is a 
generally received opinion, however, that mankind 
frequently, at least in this country, eat about twice 
as much as health requires. This is owing to 
habit ; and perhaps the power of the latter is as 
great in this respect as in regard to dress. 



68 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Begin right. Too much clothing. Make proper changes. 

The great point in regard to food or dress is, to 
hegin right, and, observing what nature requires — 
studying at the same time the testimony of others 
— endeavor to keep within the bounds she has 
assigned. It has akeady been more than intimated, 
that if the nursery be kept in a proper tempera- 
ture, a single loose piece of dress is, for some time, 
all that is required. In pursuance of this princi- 
ple, through life, I believe few persons would be 
found who would need more at one time than a 
single suit of woollen clothes, even in the severest 
winters of our northern climate. 

I have always observed that they who wear the 
greatest amount of clothing, are most subject to 
colds. There are obvious reasons why it should 
be so. This, then, if a fact, is one of the strong- 
est reasons in favor of acquiring a habit of going 
as thinly clad as we possibly can, and not at the 
same time feel any inconvenience. 

But after all, whether it be winter or summer, 
we must vary our clothing with the variations of 
the weather, as indicated by the thermometer, 
and our own feelings. Sometimes, in our ever 
changing and ever changeable climate, it may be 
necessary to vary our dress three or four times 
a day. Some cry out against this practice as 
dangerous, but I have never found it so. I have 



THE child's dress. 69 

Why caps are injurious. Diseases they may produce. 

known persons who made it a constant practice ; 
and I never found that they sustained any injury 
from it, except the loss of a little time ; and the 
increase of comfort was more than enough to 
compensate for that. There is one thing to be 
avoided, however, whether we change our cloth- 
ing — our linen, especially — twice a day, or only 
twice a week — which is dampness. 

Sec 5. Caps. 

The practice of putting caps on infants is hap- 
pily going by ; and perhaps it may be thought 
unnecessary for me to dwell a single moment on 
the subject. But as the practice still prevails in 
some parts of the country, it may be well to be- 
stow upon it a few passing remarks. 

Many mothers have not considered that the cir- 
culation of the blood in young infants is peculiarly 
active ; that a large amount of blood is at that 
period carried to the head ; that in consequence 
of this, the head is proportionably hotter than in 
adults ; and that from this source arises the ten- 
dency of very young children to brain fever, dropsy 
in the head, and other diseases of this part of the 
system. But these are most undoubted facts. 



70 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

___— — — — ^ ■ ^ — ,_ 

Nature's covering-. Why the best. Ugliness of caps. 

Hence one reason why the heads of infants 
should be kept as cool as possible ; and though a 
thin cap confines less heat than a thick head of 
hair does when they are older, yet they are less 
able to bear it. The truth is that nature furnishes 
a covering for the head, just about as fast as a 
covering is required, and the child's safety will 
permit. 

At the present day, few persons will probably 
be found, who will defend the utility of caps, any 
longer than till the hair is grown. The general 
apology for their use after this period, and indeed 
in most instances before, is, that they look pretty. 
" What would people say to see ray darling with- 
out a cap ? " 

But when the head is kept, from the first, to- 
tally uncovered, the hair grows more rapidly, dan- 
druff and other scurfy diseases rarely attack the 
scalp : catarrh, snuffles, and other similar com- 
plaints, and above all, dropsy in the head, seldom 
show themselves ; and the period of cutting teeth, 
that most dangerous period in the life of an infant, 
is passed over with much more safety. 

'^ Nothing but custom," says a foreign writer, 
" can reconcile us to the cap, with all its lace and 
trumpery ornaments, on the beautiful head of a 



THE child's dress. 71 

A common mistake. Growth of the bones endangered. 

child ; and I would ask any one to say candidly, 
whether he thinks the children in the pictures 
of Titian and RafFaelle would be improved by 
having their heads covered with caps, instead of 
the silken curls — the adornment of nature — which 
cluster round their smiling faces. If there were 
no other reason for disusing caps for infants, but 
the improvement which it produces in the appear- 
ance of the child, I would maintain that this is a 
sufficient inducement." And I concur with him 
fully. 

As to the notion — now I hope nearly exploded 
— that it is necessary to cover up the " open of 
the head," as it is called, nothing can be more 
idle. This part of the head requires no more 
covering than any other part ; and if it did, all the 
dress in the world could not affect it in the least, 
except to retard the growth of the bones, which, 
in due time, ought to close up the space ; and this 
effect, anything which keeps the head too hot 
might help to produce. On the folly of wetting 
the head with spirits, or any other medicated 
lotions, and of making daily efforts to bring it into 
shape, it is unnecessary to speak in the present 
chapter. 



72 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

The head dress usually too warm. Reasons why. 

Sec. 6. Hats and Bonnets. 

The hats worn in this country are almost uni- 
versally too warm. But if it is a great mistake in 
adults to wear thick, heavy hats, it is much more 
so in the case of children. 

The infant in the nursery, as we have already 
seen, needs no covering of the kind. It is abso- 
lutely necessary that the head should be kept 
as cool as possible ; and absolutely dangerous to 
cover it too warmly. At a later period, however, 
the danger greatly diminishes, because the circula- 
tion of the blood becomes more equal, and does 
not tend so much towards the brain. 

Still, however, the head is hotter than the limbs, 
especially the hands and feet ; and I cannot help 
thinking that the hair is the only covering which 
is perfectly safe, either in childhood or age; ex- 
cept in the sunshine or in the storm. There may 
be — there probably is — some danger in going with- 
out hat or bonnet in the hot sun; though I have 
known many children, and some grown persons, 
who were constantly exposed in this way, and yet 
appeared not to suffer from it. 

But this may be the proper place to state that 
we are ever in great danger of deceiving ourselves 
on this subject. If the individuals who follow 



THE child's dress. 73 

May we go with the head wholly uncovered ? Why not. 

practices usually regarded as pernicious, while their 
habits in other respects are just like those of other 
persons around them who have similar strength, 
&c. of constitution, — if these individuals, I say, 
were wholly to escape disease, through life, or if 
they were to be so much more free from it, and 
live to an age so much greater than others, as to 
constitute a striking and obvious difference in their 
favor, we might then safely argue that the prac- 
tices which they follow are at least without dan- 
gers, if not of obvious advantage. But when we 
see them beset with ills, like other people, it is 
not safe to pronounce their habits favorable to 
health, since it is impossible to know whether 
some of the ills which they suffer are not produced 
by them. 

These remarks are applicable to the disuse of 
?#ny covering for the head in the sun and in 
the rain. For you will find those who adopt 
this practice from early infancy,^ subject to as 
many diseases as those around them with similar 



* I say from early infancy ; because we may adopt the 
best habits in mature years, after our constitutions have 
been broken up by error and vice, without effecting any- 
thing more than to keep us from actually sinking at once. 
Indeed, in most cases, we ought not to expect more. 



74 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Light hats and bonnets commended. Thick wool hats unsafe. 

constitutions, but with habits somewhat different ; 
and as our diseases are generally the consequences 
of our errors in one way or another, it is impossi- 
ble to say with certainty that some of them might 
not have arisen from exposure of the head. 

I should not hesitate, therefore, to advise all 
mothers to put a light hat or bonnet on the heads 
of their children, whenever they are to be exposed 
to the direct rays of the summer sun, or to the 
rain. And as we cannot always foresee when 
and where these exposures will arise, and as it is 
believed that these coverings, if light, w^ill never 
be productive of much injury while we are abroad 
in the open air, it will follow that it is better to 
wear than to omit them. 

But while I contend for their use as consistent 
with health and sound philosophy, I must not be 
understood as admitting the use of such hats as 
are worn at present, even by children. They are, 
as I have said before, too hot. What should be 
substituted, I am unable to determine ; but until 
something can be supplied, which would not be half 
so oppressive as our common wool hats, I should 
regard it as the lesser evil to omit them entirely. 
The danger of going bare-headed, if the practice 
is commenced early, we know from the customs 
of some savage nations, can never be very great. ' 



THE child's dress. 75 

Keep the feet warm. Stockings useful. 

Sec. 7. Covering for the Feet, 

The same reason for avoiding the use of any 
covering for the head, in early infancy, is a suffi- 
cient reason for covering the feet well. For just 
in proportion as the blood is sent to the head in 
superabundance, and keeps up in it an undue de- 
gree of heat, just in the same proportion is it sent 
to the feet in too small a quantity, leaving these 
parts liable to cold. Now it is a fundamental law 
with medical men, that the feet ought to be kept 
waiTner than the head, if possible ; especially 
while the child is very young, and exposed to 
brain diseases. 

So long, therefore, as children are young, and 
unable to exercise their feet, stockino;s ouoht to be 

y c5 O 

used, both in summer and winter ; but I prefer to 
have them short, unless long ones can be used 
without garters. Everything in the shape of a 
garter or ligature round the limbs, body, or neck 
of a child, except a single body band, already 
mentioned in another chapter, ought forever to be 
banished. 

It has often been objected, I know, that stock- 
ings will make the feet tender. But as no child 
was ever hardened by continued and severe cold 
applied to any part of the body, but the contrary, 



76 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Objections to shoes considered. How they should be made. 

SO no one was ever made more tender by being 
kept moderately warm. Excess of heat, like ex- 
cess of cold, will alike weaken either children or 
adults; but there is little danger of heating the 
feet and legs of infants too much during the first 
year of infancy. 

It is also said that stockings are apt to receive 
and retain wet. But as I shall show in another 
place that wet clothes should be frequently 
changed, this objection would be equally strong 
against wearing coats and diapers. 

As to shoes, there is some variety of opinion 
among medical men. A few hold that they cramp 
the feet, and prevent children from learning to 
walk as early as they otherwise would. 

If it were best for children that they should 
learn to walk as early as possible, the last objec- 
tion might have weight. Bat it seems to me not 
at all desirable to be in haste about their walking. 
Indeed, I greatly prefer to retard their progress, in 
this respect, rather than to hasten it. 

As to the first objection, that shoes cramp the 
feet too much, nearly its whole force turns upon 
the question whether they are made of proper 
materials or not. There is no need of making them 
of cow-hide, or any other thick leather. The soles 
are the most important part. These will defend 



THE child's dress. 77 

Locke's opinion about shoes. Dang-er of using- pins. 

the feet against pins, needles, and such other sharp 
substances as are usually found on the floor ; and 
the upper part of the shoe, so long as the wearer 
remains in the nursery, may be made of the softest 
and most yielding material, even of cloth. In- 
fants' shoes should always be made on two lasts, 
one for each foot. 

The philosopher Locke held, that in order to 
harden the young, their shoes ought to be '^ so 
that they might leak and let in water, whenever 
they came near it." There may be, and probably 
is, no harm in having a child wet his feet occasion- 
ally, provided he is soon supplied with dry stock- 
ings again ; but it is hazardous for either children 
or adults to go too long in wet stockings, and 
especially to sit long in them, after they have been 
using much active exercise. I am in favor of 
good, substantial shoes and stockings for people of 
all ages and conditions, and at all seasons ; and 
believe it entirely in accordance with sound econ- 
omy and the laws of the human constitution. 

Sec. 8. Pins. 

The custom of using ten or a dozen pins in the 
dressing of children, ought by all means to be set 
aside. They not only often wound the skin, but 



78 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Substitute for pins. Practice of a physician. 

they have occasionally been known to penetrate 
the body and the joints of the hmbs. So many of 
these dreadful accidents occur, and where no acci- 
dent happens, so much pain is occasionally given 
by their sharp points to the little sufferer, who 
cannot tell what the matter is, that it is quite time 
the practice were abolished. 

Do you ask what can be substituted ? — The 
following mode is adopted by Dr. Dewees in his 
own family, as mentioned in his work on the 
" Physical and Medical Treatment of Children/' 
at page 86. 

^' The belly band and the petticoat have strings; 
and not a single pin is used in their adjustment. 
The little shirt, which is always made much larger 
than the infant's body, is folded on the back and 
bosom, and these folds kept in their places by pro- 
perly adjusting the body of the petticoat : so far 
not a pin is used. The diaper requires one, but 
this should be of a large size, and made to serve 
the double purposes of holding the folds of this 
article, as w^ell as keeping the belly band in its 
proper place : the latter having a small tag of 
double linen depending from its lower margin, by 
w^hich it is secured to the diaper, by the same pin. 

" Should an extraordinary display of best ^ bib 
and tucker ' be required upon any special occa- 



• 



I 



THE CHILD S DRESS. 79 

Shocking- anecdote on needles and pins. Reflections. 

sion, a third pin may be admitted to ensure the 
well sitting of the 'frock' waist in front ; — this last 
pin, however, is applied externally ; so that the 
risk of its getting into the child's body is very 
small, even if it should become displaced." 

The writer from whom the two last paragraphs 
are taken, says he has seen needles substituted for 
pins ; and relates a long story of a child whose life 
was well nigh destroyed in this manner. It under- 
went months of ill health, and many moments of 
excruciating agony, before the cause of its trouble 
was suspected. Sometimes its distress was so 
great that nothing but large doses of laudanum, 
sufficient to stupify it, could aftbrd the least 
relief. At last a tumor was discovered by the 
attending physician, near one of the bones on 
which we sit, and a needle was extracted two 
inches long. The needle had been put in its 
clothes, and by slipping into the folds of the skin, 
had insinuated itself, unperceived, into the child's 
body. It is pleasing to add, that, although the 
little sufferer had now been ill seven or eight 
months, and had endured almost everything but 
death, — fever, diarrhoea, and the most excruciating 
pain, — it soon recovered. 

This shocking circumstance is enough, one 
would think, to deter every mother or nurse, who 



80 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

A common but stransfe error. Its dangers. 

becomes acquainted with it, from using needles in 
infants' clothes. Happy would it be, if in banish- 
ing needles, they would contrive to banish pins 
also, and adopt either the plan of Dr. Dewees, or 
one still more rational. 



Sec. 9. Remaining Wet, 

On the subject of changing the wet clothing of 
a child, there is a strange and monstrous error 
abroad ; which is, that by suffering them to remain 
wet and cold, we harden the constitution. The 
filthiness of this practice is enough to condemn it, 
were there nothing else to be said against it. 

It is insisted by many, I know, that as water which 
is salt, when it is apphed to the skin, and suffered 
to remain long, while it secures the point of hard- 
ening the child, prevents all possibility of its taking 
cold, it hence follows, that wet diapers are not 
injurious ! But this is a mistake. Every time an 
infant is allowed to remain wet, we not only endan- 
ger its taking cold, but expose it to excoriations of 
the skin, if not to serious and dangerous inflamma- 
tion. In short, if frequent changes are not made, 
whatever some mothers and nurses may think, they 
may rest assured, that the health of the child must 
sooner or later suffer as the consequence. 



THE child's dress. 81 

Dress of boys. Tio^ht jackets always injurious. 

Nor is it enough to hang up a diaper by the fire, 
and, as soon as it is dry, apply it again. It should 
be clean, as well as dry. Let us not be told that 
it is troublesome to wash so often. Everything is 
in a certain sense troublesome. Everything in 
this world, which is worth having, is the result 
of toil. Nothing but absolute poverty affords the 
shadow of an excuse for neglecting anything which 
will promote the health, or even the comfort, of 
the tender infant. 

Of the impropriety and danger of suffering wet 
clothes to dry upon us, I shall speak elsewhere ; 
as well as of the evil of suffering children to remain 
dirty, — their skins or their clothing. 

Sec 10. JRcmarlcs on the Dress of Boys, 

Whatever tends to disturb the growlh of the 
body, or hinder the free exercise of the limbs, 
durin<r the infancy and childhood of both sexes, is 
injurious. And as every mother has the control 
of these things, I have thought it desirable to ap- 
pend to this chapter a few thoughts on the particu- 
lar dress of each sex. I begin with that of boys. 

"Nothing can be more injurious to health," says 
a foreign writer, " than the tight jacket, buttoned 
6 



82 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Thick cravats and stocks. Why they are injurious. 

up to the throat, the well-fitted boots, and the stiff 
stock." And hi$ remarks are nearly as applicable 
to this country as to England. The consequences 
of this preposterous method of dressing boys are, 
diminutive manhood, deformity of person, and a 
constitution either already imbued with disease, or 
highly susceptible of its impression. 

No part of the modern dress of boys is more 
absurd than the stiff stock, or thick cravat. It is 
not only injurious by pressing on the jugular veins, 
and preventing the blood from freely passing out 
of the head, but, by constantly pressing on the 
numerous and complex muscles of the neck, at 
this period of life, it prevents their development; 
because whatever hinders the action of the muscular 
parts, hinders their growth, and makes them even 
appear as if wasted. 

It would be a great improvement, if this part of 
dress were wholly discarded ; and when is there so 
appropriate a time for setting it aside as before we 
begin to use it ; or rather while we are under the 
more immediate care of our mothers ? 

The use of jackets buttoned up to the throat, 
except in cold weather, is objectionable ; but this 
is very fortunately going out of fashion. 



THE child's dress. 83 

Consequences of wearing tight boots. A painful picture. 

Boots, if used at all, should fit well. To this 
there can be no possible objection. What the 
writer whom I have quoted referred to, was prob- 
ably the tight boot, worn to prevent the foot from 
being large and unseemly ; but producing, as tight 
boots inevitably do, an injurious effect upon the 
muscles, a constrained walk, and corns. 

What can be more painful than to see little 
boys, — yes, little boys — boys neither fifteen, nor 
twenty, nor twenty-five, — walk as if they were 
fettered, and trussed up for the spit; unable to 
look down, or turn their heads, on account of a 
thick stock, or two or three cravats piled on the 
top of each other, and only capable of using their 
arms to dangle a cane, or carry an umbrella, as 
they hobble along, perhaps on a hot sun-shiny day 
in July or August ? 

But this evil, ye who are mothers have it very 
generally in your power to prevent, if you are 
only wise enough to secure that ascendancy over 
your children's minds which the Author of their 
nature designed. At the least, you can prevent it 
for a time — the most important period, too — by 
your own authority. This you will not need any 
urging to induce you to do, if you ever become 
thoroughly convinced of its pre-eminent folly. 



84 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Dress of girls. Should be loose. Health often exposed. 

Sec. 11. On the Dress of Girls. 

The same general principles which should guide 
the young mother in regard to the dress of boys, 
are equally important and applicable in the man- 
agement of girls. The whole dress should, as 
much as possible, hang loosely from the shoulders, 
without pressing on the body, or any part of it. 
This, I say, is the grand point to be aimed at ; 
and this is the only great principle, whatever some 
mothers may think, which will lead to true beauty 
of person, and gracefulness of gesture. 

There is, however, a slight difference to be 
made between the dress of girls and that of boys. 
The greater delicacy of the female frame requires 
that tlie surface of the body should be kept rather 
warmer, as well as better protected from the vicis- 
situdes of the atmosphere. 

Bat is this the fact ? Is not the contrary true ? 
While boys in the winter are clad in warm w^oollen 
vestments, covering every part of their trunk, 
many portions of the female frame, and especially 
many parts of their limbs, are left so much ex- 
posed, that in cold weather, you hardly find a girl 
abroad who appears to be comfortable. 

Nay, they are not only uncomfortable abroad, 
but at home ; and if I were to present to mothers 



THE child's dress. 85 

Females not allowed to run. Confining the lungs. 

in detail, a tenth of the evils which their daugh- 
ters suffer, from not adopting a warmer method of 
clothing, I should probably be stared at by some, 
and laughed at by others. And this, too, without 
speaking of going out of warm concert rooms, 
theatres, ball rooms and lecture rooms, into the 
night air, or out of school rooms and churches, to 
walk home with measured and stiffened pace, lest 
the sin unpardonable of walking swiftly or run- 
ning — that active exercise which health requires, 
which youthful feeling prompts, and which duty 
ought to inspire — should unwarily be committed. 

The tremendous evils of confining the lungs 
have been adverted to at sufficient length. In 
reference to that general subject, I need only add, 
that if the chest be not duly exercised and ex- 
panded, the liver, the lungs, the stomach, digestion, 
absorption, circulation and perspiration, are all hin- 
dered. And even so far as the various internal 
organs of the body are active, they work at a great 
disadvantage. The blood which they '^ work up," 
is bad blood, and must be so, as long as the lungs 
do not have free play. Hence may and do arise 
all sorts of diseases, especially diseases of obstruc- 
tion, and such as are often very difficult of re- 
moval. 



86 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

A pitiable sight. Appeal to mothers. 

What can be a more pitiable sight than one of our 
modern gii-ls going home from school or church in 
winter. Thinly clad, the blood is all driven from 
the surface upon the internal organs, and what 
remains is so loaded with carbon, which the lungs 
ought but cannot discharge, that her skin has a 
leaden hue ; her teeth chatter ; her very heart is 
chilled in her panting, frozen bosom ; she cannot 
run, and if she could, she must not, for it would 
be vulgar ! Every mother should shrink from the 
sight of such a picture. 



CHAPTER V. 



CLEANLINESS. 



Structure of the skin. Nature of perspiration. 

No mother will ever pay that attention to clean- 
liness which its importance to health and happiness 
demands, till she perceives its necessity. And 
she will never perceive that necessity, till she has 
studied attentively the machinery of the human 
frame ; and especially its wonderful covering. 

The skin is pierced with little openings or pores, 
so numerous that some have reckoned them at a 
miUion to evfery square inch. At all events, they 
are so small that the naked eye can neither dis- 
tinguish nor count them ; and so numerous, that 
we cannot pierce the skin with the finest needle, 
without hitting one or more of them. 

When we are in perfect health, and the skin is 
dean, a gentle moisture or mist continually oozes 
througli these pores. This process is called per- 
spjration ; and the moisture which thus escapes, 
the matter of perspiration. 

Perspiration maybe checked in two ways; L 
By filth on the skin ; 2. By what is commonly called 



88 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

What taking cold is. Consequences of colds. Filthiness. 

taking cold— for taking cold essentially consists in 
chilling the skin to such a degree as to stop, for 
some time, the escape of this moisture. Most 
persons have doubtless observed, that in the first 
stages of a cold, they frequently have a very dry 
skin ; whereasj when we are in health, the skin 
usually feels moist. 

Our health is not only endangered, and a foun- 
dation laid for fevers, rheumatisms and consump- 
tions, by stof)ping the pores of the skin with dirt, 
or anything else, but there is also danger frona 
another and a very different source. 

The blood, in its circulation through the body^ 
is constantly becoming impure ; and as it thus 
comes back impure to the heart, is as constantly 
sent to the lungs, where it comes in close contact 
with the air which we breathe, and is purified. 
But this same purifying process which goes on in 
the lungs, goes on, too, if the skin is in a pure, 
free, heahhy condition, all over the surface of the 
body. If it is not — if the skin cannot do this 
part of the work — an additional burden is thus 
laid on the lungs, which, in this way, soon becom© 
so overworked that they cannot perform their own 
proportion of the labor. And whenever this hap- 
pens, the health must soon suffer. 



CLEANLINESS. 89 



Dirt unhealthy. Red cheeks do not always indicate health. 

The strange belief that ^'dh't is healthy/' has 
much influence on the daily practice of thousands 
of those who are ignorant of the human structure, 
and the laws which govern and regulate the animal 
economy. It has probably originated in the well- 
known fact, that those children who are allowed to 
play in the dirt, are often as healthy — and even 
more healthy — than those who are confined to the 
nursery or the parlor. 

Now while it is admitted that this is a very 
common case, it is yet believed that the former 
class of children would be still more vigorous than 
they now are, if they w^ere kept more cleanly, or 
were at least frequently washed. It is not the 
dirt which promotes their health, but their active 
exercise in the open air ; the advantages of which 
are more than sufficient to compensate for the in- 
jury which they sustain from the dirt. That is to 
say, they retain, in spite of the dirt, better health 
than those who are denied the blessings of pure 
air and abundant exercise, and subjected to the 
opposite extreme of almost constant confinement. 

There is something deceitful, after all, in the 
ruddy, blooming appearance of those children who 
are left by the busy parent to play in the road or 
field, without attention to cleanliness. If this were 
not so, how comes it to pass that they suffer much 



90 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

PunishmeiU remote. Mistake about consumptive persons. 

more, not only from chronic, but from acute dis- 
eases, than children whose parents are in better 
circumstances ? 

I am the more solicitous to combat a belief in 
the salutary tendency of an unclean skin, because 
I know it prevails to some extent ; and because I 
know also, both from reason and from fact, that it 
is a gross error. 

It is, however, true, that years sometimes inter- 
vene, before the evil consequences of dirtiness 
appear. The oiRce of the vessels of the skin 
being interrupted, an increase of action is imposed 
on other parts, especially on those internal organs 
commonly called glands, which action is apt to 
settle into obstinate disease. Hence, at least 
when aided by other causes, often arise, in later 
life, after the source of the evil is forgotten, if it 
were ever suspected, rheumatism, scrofula, jaun- 
dice, and even consumption. 

There is a strange notion abroad, that the smell 
of the earth is beneficial, especially to consumptive 
persons. I honestly beheve, however, that it is 
more likely to create consumption than to cure it. 
Besides, in what does this smell consist ? Do the 
silex, the alumine, and the other earths, with their 
compounds, emit any odor? Rarely, I believe, 



CLEANLINESS. 91 



Author's protest. Cleanliness favorable to morality. 

unless when mixed with vegetable matter. But 
no gases necessary to health are evolved during 
the decomposition of vegetable matter; on the 
contrary, it is well known that many of them tend 
to induce disease. 

I am thoroughly persuaded that too much atten- 
tion cannot be paid to cleanliness ; and the demand 
for such attention is equally imperious in the case 
of those who cultivate the earth, or labor in it, or 
on stone, during the intervals of their useful avo- 
cations, as in the case of those individuals who 
follow other employments. 

I must also protest against the doctrine, that the 
smell or taste of the earth, much less a coat of it 
spread over the surface, and closing up, for hours 
and days together, thousands and millions of those 
little pores with which the Author of this ^^ won- 
drous frame " has pierced the skin, can have a 
salutary tendency. 

The opinion has even been maintained, that 
uncleanly habits are not only unfavorable to health, 
but to morality. There can be no doubt that he 
who neglects his person and dress will be found 
lower in the scale of morals, other things being 
equal, than he who pays a due regard to cleanli- 
ness. 



92 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Bowel complaints caused by foul skin. Frequent bathing. 

Some have supposed that a disposition to ne- 
glect personal cleanliness was indicative of genius. 
But this opinion is grossly erroneous, and has well 
nigh ruined many a young man. 

I am far from recommending any degree of fas- 
tidiousness on this subject. Truih and correct 
practice usually He between extremes. But I do 
and must insist, that the connection between clean- 
liness of body and purity of moral character, is 
much more close and direct than has usual! v been 
supposed. 

But to return to the more immediate effects of 
cleanliness on health. There is one class of dis- 
eases in particular which, in an eminent degree, 
owe their origin to a neglect of cleanhness. I refer 
to the bowel complaints, so common among chil- 
dren during summer and autumn. Except in case 
of teething, the use of unripe fruits, or the abuse 
of those which are in themselves excellent, it is 
probable that more than half of the bowel com- 
plaints of the young are either produced or greatly 
aggravated by a foul skin. 

The importance of washing the whole body in 
water will be insisted on in the chapter on Bath- 
ing; it is therefore unnecessary to say anything 
faither on that subject in this place, except to ob- 



CLEANLINESS. 93 



Washing". Changing our dress. Night dresses. 

serve that whether the washings of the body be 
partial or general, they should be thorough, so far 
as they are carried. There are thouj^ands of chil- 
dren who, in pretending to wash their hands and 
face, will do little niore than wet the inside of 
their hands, and the tips of their nos-es and ears, 
unless great care is taken. 

Few things are more important than suitable 
changes of dress. There are those who, from 
principle, never wear the same under garment but 
one day without washing, either in summer or 
winter ; and there are others who, though they 
may wear an article without washing two or three 
successive days, take care to change their dress at 
night — never sleeping in a garment which they 
have worn during the day. 

It is a very common objection to suggestions like 
these, that they will do very well for those who 
have wealth, but not for the poor; — that they 
have neither the time nor the means of attending 
to them. How can they change their clothes 
every day? — we are asked. And how can they 
afford to have a separate dress for the night ? 

There must be retrenchment in some other 
matters, it is admitted. In order to find time for 
more washing, or money to pay others for the 



94 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Self-denial in regard to dress. Other matters. 

labor, the poor must deny themselves a few 
things which they now suppose, if they have ever 
thought at all on the subject, are conducive to 
their happiness — ^but which are, in reality, either 
useless or injurious. Something may be saved 
by a reasonable dress, as I have already shown. 
Other items of expense, which might be spared 
with great advantage to health and happiness, and 
apphed to the purpose in question, will be men- 
tioned in the chapters on Food and Drink. 



CHAPTER VL 



BATHING. 



Early cold bathing-. Very objectionable. Why. 

Some of the hardy nations of antiquity, as well 
as a few savage tribes of modern times, plunge 
their new-born infants into cold water. This is 
done for the two-fold purpose of washing and 
hardening them. 

To all who reason but for a moment on this 
subject, the danger of such a practice must be 
obvious. So sudden a change from a temperature 
of nearly 100^ of Fahrenheit to one quite low, 
perhaps scarcely 40^, must and does have a 
powerful effect on the nervous system even of an 
adult ; but how much more on that of a tender 
infant! We may form some idea of this, by the 
suddenness and violence of its cries, by the sudden 
contractions and relaxations of its limbs and body, 
and by its palpitating heart and difficult breathing. 

Every one's experience may also remind him, 
that what produces at best a momentary pain to 
himself, cannot be otherwise than painful to the 
infant. In making a comparison between adults 
and infants, however, in this respect, we should 



96 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Rousseau's opinion. Erroneous. Infanticide. 

remember that the lungs of the infant do not get 
into full and vigorous action until some time after 
birth ; and that on this account, the hold they 
have on life is so feeble that any powerful shock, 
and especially that given by the cold bath, is ten 
times more dangerous to them than to adults, or 
even to infants themselves, after a few months 
have elapsed. 

It is surprising to me that so sensible a writer as 
Rousseau generally is on education, should have 
encouraged this dangerous practice ; and still more 
so that many fathers even now, blinded by theory, 
should persist in it, notwithstanding the pleadings 
of the mother or the nurse, and the plainest dic- 
tates of common sense and common prudence.* 

* Nothing is intended to be said here, which shall en- 
courage unthinking nurses or mothers, in setting them- 
selves against measures which have been presciibed by 
higher authority — I mean the physician. There are 
cases of this kind, where it requires all the resolution 
which a father, uninterrupted, can simnnon to his aid, to 
administer a dose, or perform a task, on which he knows 
the existence of his child may be depending; but when 
the thoughtless entreaties of the mother or nurse are 
interposed, it makes his condition most distressing. 
Mothers, in such cases, ought to encourage rather than 
remonstrate. They who do not, are guilty of cruelty, 
and — perhaps—of infanticide. 



BATHING. 97 



Danger from early cold bathing-. Apparent exceptions. 

A child plunged into cold water at birth, by 
those whose theories carry them so far as to do it 
even in the coldest weather, has sometimes been 
twenty-four hours in recovering, notwithstanding 
the most active and judicious efforts to restore it. 
In other instances, the result has been still more 
distressing. Dr. Dewees is persuaded that he 
has " known death itself to follow the use of 
cold water,^' in this way — I believe he means 
immediate death — and adds, with great confidence, 
that he has ^^ repeatedly seen it require the lapse 
of several hours before reaction could establish 
itself; during which time the pale and sunken 
cheeks, and livid lips, declared the almost ex- 
hausted state" of the infant's excitability."^ 

We need not hesitate to put very great confi- 
dence in the opinion here expressed ; for besides 
being a close and just observer of human nature, 
Dr. D. has had the direction and management, in 
a greater or less degree, of several thousands of 
new-bom infants. 

Nothing, indeed, in the whole range of physical 
education, seems better proved, than that while a 
few infants, whose constitutions are naturally very 

* "Dewees on Children," page 72. 

7 



98 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Spirits added to the water. Medical advice on bathing-. 

Strong, are invigorated by the practice in question, 
others, in the proportion of hundreds for one, who 
are less robust, are injured for hfe ; some of them 
seriously. 

Nor will spirits added to the water make any 
material difference. I am aware that there is a 
very general notion abroad, that the injurious 
effects of cold water, in its application both inter- 
nally and externally, are greatly diminished by the 
addition of a little spirit; but it is not so. Does 
the addition of such a small quantity of spirit as 
is generally used in these cases, materially alter 
the temperature ? Is it not the application of a 
cold hquid to a heated surface, still? Can we 
make anything else of it, either more or less ? * 

I do not undertake to say, that the cold bath 
may not be so managed, in the progress of infancy, 
as to make it beneficial, especially to some consti- 
tutions. It is its indiscriminate application to all 
new-born children, without regard to strength of 
constitution or any other circumstances, that I most 
strenuously oppose. Of its occasional use, under 



* This subject will be resumed, when we come to 
speak of the injudicious use of medicine in infancy, or of 
hardening* 



BATHING. 99 



First washings. Temperature of the room — the water. Dress. 

the eye of a physician, and by parents who will 
discriminate, I have nothing at present to say. 

Our first duty on receiving a new inhabitant of 
the world is, to see that it is gently but thoroughly 
washed, in moderately warm soft water, with fine 
soap. Special attention should be paid to the folds 
of the joints, the neck, the arm pits, &c. For 
rubbing the body, in order to disengage anything 
which might obstruct the pores, or irritate or fret 
the skin, nothing can be preferable to a piece of 
soft sponge or flannel. Though the operation 
should be thorough, and also as rapid as the nature 
of circumstances will permit, all harshness should 
be avoided. When finished, the child should be 
wiped perfectly dry with soft flannel. 

While the washing is performed, the tempera 
ture of the room should be but a few degrees 
lower than that of the water ; and the child should 
not be exposed to currents of cold air. If the 
weather is severe, or if currents of air in the room 
cannot otherwise be avoided, the dressing, un- 
dressing, w^ashing, &:c. may be done near the fire. 
And I repeat the rule, it should always be done 
with as much rapidity as is compatible with safety. 
Here will be seen one great advantage of simplicity 
in the form of dress. If the more rational sugges- 
tions of our chapter On that subject are attended 



100 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Warm bathing". Water without mixture. Proper hour. 

to, it will greatly facilitate the process of washing, 
and the subsequent daily process of bathing, which 
I am about to recommend to my readers. 

This washing process is also an introduction to 
bathing. For it should be repeated every day; 
but with less and less attention to the washing, 
and more and more reference to the bathing. 
How long the child should stay in the bath, must 
be left to experience. If he is quiet, fifteen min- 
utes can never be too long; and I should not object 
to twenty. If otherwise, and you are obliged to 
remove him in five minutes, or even in three, 
still the bathing will be of too much service to be 
dispensed with. 

Nothing should be mixed with the water, if the 
infant is healthy, except a little soap, as already 
mentioned. Some are fond of using salt ; but it is 
by no means necessary, and may do harm. 

The proper hour for bathing is the early part 
of the day, or about the middle of the forenoon. 
This season is selected, because the process, man- 
age it as carefully as we may, is at first a little 
exhausting. As the child grows older, however, 
and not only becomes stronger, but appears to be 
actually refreshed and invigorated by the bath, it 
will be advisable to defer it to a later and later 
hour. By the time the babe is three months old, 



BATHING. 101 



A thermometer indispensable. One general rule. 

particularly in the warm season, the hour of bath- 
ing may be at sunset. 

The degree of heat must be determined, in part, 
by observing its effect on the child ; and in part 
by a thermometer. For this, and for other pur- 
poses, a thermometer, as I have already more thau 
hinted, is indispensable in every nursery. Our own 
sensations are often at best a very unsafe guide. 
There is one rule which should always be ob- 
served ; — never to have the temperature of the 
bath below that of the air of the room. If the 
thermometer show the latter to be 70^, the bath 
should be something like 80^ : perhaps with fee- 
ble children, rather more. 

Great care ought always to be taken, to propor- 
tion the air of the room and the water of the bath 
to each other. If, for example, the temperature 
of the room have been, for some time, unusually 
vrarm, that of the water must not be so low as if 
it had been otherwise. On *^ the contrary, if the 
room have been, for a considerable time, rather 
cool, the bath may be made several degrees cooler 
than in other circumstances. But in no case, and 
in no circumstances, must a warm bath — intended 
as such, simply — be so warm or so cold as to make 
the child uncomfortable, whether the temperature 
be 70^ 80^ or 90^, 



102 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Size of a bathing vessel. Foolish fears. 

It is hardly necessary to add, that in bathing 
a young child, the vessel used for the purpose 
should be large enough to give free scope to all the 
motions of its extremities. Most children are de- 
lighted to play and scramble about in the water. 
I know, indeed, that the contrary sometimes hap- 
pens ; but when it does, it is usually— I do not 
say always — ^because the countenances of those 
who are around express fear or apprehension ; for 
it is surprising how early these httle beings learn 
to decipher our feelings by our very countenances. 

Some of our readers may be surprised at the 
intimation that there are mothers and nurses who 
have fears or apprehensions in regard to the effects 
of the warm bath ; but others— and it is for such 
that I write this paragraph — understand me better 
than I wish they did. I have often been surprised 
at the fact, but it is undoubted, that there is a 
strong prejudice against warm bathing, in many 
parts of the country. In endeavoring to trace the 
cause, I have usually found that it arose from hav- 
ing seen or heard of some child who died soon 
after its application. I have had m-any a parent 
remonstrate with me on the danger of the warm 
bath ; and this, too, in circumstances when it ap- 
peared to me that the child's existence depended, 
under God, on that very measure. Perhaps it is 



BATHING. 103 



How they probably arose. Other whims and prejudices. 

useless, in such cases, however, to reason with pa- 
rents on the subject. The medical practitioner 
must do his duty boldly and fearlessly, and risk 
the consequences. 

But as I am writing, not for persons under 
immediate excitement, but for those that may be 
reasoned with, it is proper to say, that in medicine, 
the warm bath is so often used in extreme cases, 
and as a last resort, even when death has already 
grasped, or is about to fix his grasp on the sufferer, 
that it would be very strange if many persons did 
not die, just after bathing. But that the bathing 
itself ever produced this result, in one case in a 
thousand, there is not the slightest reason for be- 
lieving.*' 

There are many more whims connected with 
bathing, as with almost everything else, which it 
were equally desirable to remove. Some nurses 
and mothers think that if the child's skin is wiped 
dry after bathing, it will impair, if not destroy, the 

* Let me not be understood as intimating that the 
general neglect of bathing, of which I complain so 
loudly, is chiefly owing to this unreasonable prejudice, 
though this no doubt has its sway. On the contrary, I 
believe it is much oftener owing to ignorance, indolence 
and parsimony. 



104 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Wearing- wet clothes. Dewees' objections to cold bathing. 

good effects of the operation. Others still, shock- 
ing to relate, will even put it to bed in its wet 
clothes; this, too, from principle. Not unlike this 
is the belief, very common among adults, that if 
we get our clothes wet — even our stockings — we 
must, by all means, suffer them to dry on us ; — ^a 
belief which, in its results, has sent thousands to a 
premature grave, and what is still worse, made 
invalids, for life, of a still greater number. 

I am aware, that in rejecting the cold bathing of 
infants, I am treading on ground which is rather 
unpopular, even with medical men ; a large pro- 
portion of whom seem to believe that the practice 
may be useful. But I am not loholly alone. Dr» 
Dewees — of whose large experience I have al- 
ready spoken — and not a few other medical men, 
do not hesitate to avow similar sentiments. 

The objections of Dr. Dewees to cold bathing 
are the following : — 1 . There often exists a predis- 
position to disease, which cold bathing is sure to 
rouse to action. Or if the disease have already 
begun to affect the system, the bath is sure to 
aggravate it. 2. Some children have such feeble 
constitutions that they are sure to be permanently 
weakened by it, rather than invigorated. 3. To 
those in whom there is the tendency of a large 
quantity of blood to the head, lungs, liver, &;c., 



BATHING. 105 



A formidable list. Some mistakes of the doctor's. 

it is injurious. 4. In some, the shock produces a 
species of syncope, or catalepsy. 5. The reaction, 
as shown by the heat which follows the cold bath, 
is, in some cases, so great as to produce a degree 
of fever, and consequent debihty, 6. It never 
answers the purposes of cleanliness — one great 
object of bathing — so well as the warm bath. 7. 
It is always painful or unpleasant to the child ; 
especially at first. 8. It sometimes produces se- 
vere pain in the bowels. 

This is a very formidable list of objections ; and 
certainly deserves consideration. Ther^ is one 
statement made by Dr. D., in the progress of his 
remarks on this subject, in which I do not concur. 
He says, " the object of all bathing is to remove 
impurities arising from dust, perspiration, &:c., 
from the surface ; that the skin may not be ob- 
structed in the performance of its proper offices." 
But the object of cold bathing, with many, is to 
harden; cons'^quently it is not true that cleanliness 
is the only object. If he means, even, that clean- 
liness is the only legitimate object of all bathing, I 
shall still be compelled to dissent. 

If the cold bath could be used, always, by and 
with the direction of a skilful physician, I believe 
its occasional use might be rendered salutary. 
And although as it is now commonly used, I be- 



106 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

A two-edged sword. When may the cold bath be safely used ? 

lieve its effects are almost anything but salutary, 
I do not deny that if its use were cautiously and 
gradually begun, and judiciously conducted, it 
might be the means of making children who are 
already robust still more hardy and healthy than 
before, and better able to resist those sudden 
changes of temperature so common in our climate, 
and so apt to produce cold, fever and consumption. 

Cold bathing, in the hands of those who are 
ignorant of the laws of the human frame — and 
such unfortunately and unaccountably most fathers 
and mothers are — I cannot help regarding as a 
highly dangerous weapon — a two-edged sword ; 
and therefore it is that, in view of the whole sub- 
ject, I cannot recommend its general use. 

If there are individuals, however, who are de- 
termined to employ it, in the case of their more 
vigorous children, and without the advice or direc- 
tion of their family physician, I beg them to attend 
to the following rules or principles, expressed as 
briefly as possible. 

In no ordinary case whatever is the cold bath 
useful, unless it is succeeded by that degree of 
warmth on the surface of the body which is usually 
called a glow. This is a leading and important 
principle. The contrary, that is, the injurious 
effects of cold bathing — its immediate bad effects, 



BATHING. 107 



Warmth after it. Age — hour of the day — frequency. 

I mean — are shown by the skin remaining pale 
and shrivelled after coming out of the bath, by its 
blue appearance and by its coldness, as well as by 
a sunken state of the eyes, and much general lan- 
guor. 

To secure this point — I mean the glow — it is 
indispensably important to begin the use of cold 
water gradually ; that is, to use it at first of so high 
a temperature as to produce only a slight sensation 
of cold ; and to take special care that the skin be 
immediately wiped very dry, and the temperature 
of the room be quite as high as usual. Afterward 
the water may be cooled gradually, from week to 
week, though never more than a degree or two at 
once. 

It will probably be unsafe to commence this 
practice of cold bathing — even in the case of the 
most robust children — until they are at least six 
months of age. 

The appropriate season will be the middle of 
the forenoon, the hour when the system is usually 
the most vigorous, and at which we shall be most 
likely to secure a reaction. At first, two or three 
times a week are as often as it will be safe to 
repeat it. Some writers recommend it twice a 
day ; but once is enough, under any ordinary cir- 
cumstances. 



108 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Coming out of the bath. Dressing. Exercise and singing. 

The method at first is, to give the infant a single 
plunge. Afterward, when he becomes older and 
more inured to it, he may be plunged several 
times in succession. 

On taking him out of the bath, the skin should 
be wiped perfectly dry, as in the case of the warm 
bath, and with the same or an increased degree of 
attention to other circumstances — the temperature 
of the room, the avoiding of currents, &c. He 
should next be put into a soft, warm blanket, and 
be kept for some time in a state of gentle motion ; 
and after a little time, should be dressed. 

I have already mentioned the importance of 
avoiding the manifestation of fear, when we bathe 
a child; and the caution is particularly necessary 
in the administration of the cold bath. Some 
writers even recommend, that during the whole 
process of undressing, bathing, exercising and 
dressing, singing should be employed. There is 
philosophy in this advice, and it is easily tried ; 
but I cannot speak of it from experience. 

There is one thing which may serve to calm 
our apprehensions — if we have any — of danger; 
which is, that though the child's lungs are feeble 
at first, from their not having been, like the heart, 
accustomed to previous action, yet when they get 
fairly into motion and action, and the child is a few 



BATHING. 109 



More particulars. Local use of cold water. 

months old, they are probably as strong, if not 
stronger, in proportion, than those of adults. 

Bathing in cold water should never be per- 
formed immediately after a full meal. Neither is it 
desirable to go to the contrary extreme, and bathe 
when the stomach has been long empty ; nor 
when the child's mental or bodily powers are more 
than usually exhausted by fatigue. 

Although I have given these rules for those 
who are determined to use the cold bath with 
their children, yet for fear I shall be misunderstood, 
I must be suffered to repeat, in this place, that, 
uninformed as people generally are in regard to 
physiology, I cannot advise even its moderate use. 
On the contrary, I would gladly dissuade from it, 
as most likely, in the way it would inevitably be 
used, to do more of harm than good. 

There is no sort of objection to what might be 
called local bathing with cold water. If the child's 
head is hot at any time, the temples, and indeed 
the whole upper part of the head, may be very 
properly wet with moderately cold water ; taking 
care to avoid wetting the clothes. But avoid, by 
all means, the common but foohsh practice of 
putting spirits in the water. 

A tea-spoonful of cold water cannot be too early 
put into the mouth of the infant. The object is 



110 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Shower bath. Vapor bath. Medicated vapor bath. 

to cleanse or rinse the mouth ; and the process 
tnay be aided by wiping it out with a piece of soft 
linen rag. If a part or all of the water should be 
swallowed, no harm will be done. This practice, 
commenced almost as soon as children are born, 
has saved many a sore mouth. 

There are other forms of bathing besides those 
already mentioned ; among which are the shower 
bath, the vapor bath, and the medicated bath. 

The shower bath — for which purpose the water 
is commonly used cold — is but poorly adapted to 
the wants of infants. The shock is much greater 
than in the common cold bath, and more apt to 
frighten ; and fear is unfavorable to reaction, or 
the production of a genial glow. 

The vapor bath is much better ; and probably 
has quite as good an effect as the common warm 
bath. The trouble and expense of procuring the 
necessary apparatus is somewhat greater, however,, 
as a mere bathing tub costs but little, and can be 
made by every father who possesses common 
ingenuity. But whatever may be the expense, it 
is indispensable in every family; and whenever 
the pores of the skin are obstructed, a vapor bath- 
ing apparatus is equally desirable. 

The medicated vapor bath is sometimes used ; 
but I am not now treating of infants who are sick, 
but of those who are in a state of health. 



BATHING. Ill 

Salt in the bath. Applying- water with a cloth or spong-e. 

The common warm bath is sometimes medicated 
by putting in salt. This, of course, renders the 
water more stimulating to the skin ; but except 
when the perspiration is checked, or the skin pe- 
culiarly inactive from some other cause — in other 
words, unless we are sick — it is seldom expedient 
to use it. 

There is one substitute for the bathing tub, in 
the case of the cold bath. I refer to the use of a 
wet cloth or sponge, applied rapidly to the whole 
surface of the body. When this is done, the skin 
should be wiped thoroughly dry immediately after- 
wards, as in the case of complete immersion. 

The application of either a cloth or a sponge, 
filled with warm water, to the skin, in this manner, 
even if continued for several minutes together, is 
less efficacious than a continuous immersion. I 
repeat it — no family ought to be without con- 
veniences for bathing in warm water daily. I 
speak now of every member of the family, young 
and old, as well as the infant ; and I refer particu- 
larly t(j the summer season : though I do not 
think the practice ought to be wholly discontinued 
during the winter. 

It will still be objected, that this care of, and 
attention to the young, in reference to health, — 
this provision for bathing daily, and care to see 



112 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Bathing undervalued by parents. It was so by the Romans. 

that it is performed, — can never be afforded by the 
laboring portion of the community. But I shall 
as strenuously insist on the contrary ; and trust I 
shall, in the sequel, produce reasons which will be 
satisfactory. 

The great difficulty is, to convince parents that 
these things are vastly more productive of health 
and happiness to their children — more truly neces- 
saries — than a great many things for which they 
now expend their time and money. There is, and 
always has been, — except, perhaps, among the 
Jews, in the earliest periods of the history of that 
wonderful nation, — a strange disposition to overlook 
the happiness of the young. It is not necessary 
to represent this dereliction as peculiar to modern 
times, for we find traces of the same thing thou- 
sands of years ago. 

The Roman emperors — Dioclesian in particular 
—could make provision for bathing, to an extent 
which now astonishes us ; but for whom ? For 
whom, I repeat it, was incurred the enormous ex- 
pense of fitting up and keeping in repair accommo- 
dations for bathing at once 18,000 people ? For 
adults ; and for adults alone. I do not say, that 
children were not admitted, in any case ; but I say 
they were not contemplated. Nothing was done, 
— not a single thing, — that would not have been 



BATHING. 113 



Why we neglect children. Domestic animals not so treated. 

done, had there been no child under ten years of 
age in the whole empire. 

And what better than this do we, now ? We 
make provision for the happiness of the adult. 
The most indigent person will find time and money 
to spend for the gratification of his own senses, his 
pride or his curiosity ; but his children — they 
must be overlooked ! Or, if he has an eye to the 
future happiness of his child, he conceives that 
he is promoting it in the best possible degree, by 
endeavoring to lay up a few dollars for his use, 
after his character is formed, at a period, as it too 
often happens, when money will do him little 
good, since it can purchase neither peace of mind, 
health or reputation. 

Far be it from me to say that the poor — ground 
into the dust as they are, by the force of circum- 
stances operating with their own concurrence, to 
make them ignorant, vicious or miserable — can 
do for their children all that is desirable. By no 
means. But they have it in their power to do 
much more than they are at present doing. They 
have it in their power to use the same good sense 
in the management of the human being, that they 
do in that of a pig, a calf, or a colt, or even a 
young vegetable. No parent, let him be ever so 
poor, is found in the habit of neglecting either of 
8 



114 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Young" animals and veg-etables. Our duty to children. 

these in proportion to its infancy, and of exerting 
himself for it only in proportion as it grows older. 
Common sense tells him that the contrary is the 
true course ; that however poor he may be, he 
will be still poorer, if he do not take special pains 
with the young animal to rear it, and with the 
young vegetable, to give it the right direction, by 
keeping down the weeds, and pruning and water- 
ing it. And I say again, that however deserving 
of censure the wealthy of a christian community 
may be, in not directing the ignorant and vicious 
into the right path, and in not expending more of 
their wealth on those w^ho are poor, in elevating 
their minds and their manners, and promoting 
their health, still the latter are inexcusable for 
their present neglect of their infant offspring, while 
they would not think of neglecting, on the same 
principle, the offspring of their domestic animals^. 



CHAPTER VII 



FOOD. 



( 



Nature's provisions. Unfeeling mothers. Their excuses. 

Sec. 1. General Principles. 

The mother's milk, in suitable quantity, and 
under suitable regulations, is so obviously the ap- 
propriate food of an infant, during the first months 
of its existence, that it seems almost unnecessary 
to repeat the fact. And yet the violations of this 
rule are so numerous and constant as to require a 
few passing remarks. 

There are some mothers who seem to have a 
perfect hatred of children ; and if they can find 
any plausible apology for neglecting to nurse them, 
they will. Few, indeed, will publicly acknowledge 
a state of feeling so unnatural ; but there are some 
even of such. On the latter, all argument would, 
I fear, be utterly lost. Of the former, there may 
be hope. 

They tell us — and they are often sustained by 
those around them — that it is very inconvenient 



116 THE YOUNG MOTHER, 

Further apologies. They are hollow. Unnatural. 

to be SO confined to a child that they cannot leave 
home for a little while. Can it be their duty — 
for in these days, when virtue, and religion, and 
everything good, are so highly complimented, no 
people are more ready to talk of duty than they 
who have the least regard for it — can it be their 
duty, they ask, to exclude themselves from the 
pleasures and comforts of social life for half or two 
thirds of their most active and happy years ? 
Ought they not to go abroad, at least occasionally ? 
But if so, and their children have no other source 
of dependence, must they not suffer ? Is it not 
better, therefore, that they should be early accus- 
tomed to other food, for a part of the time ? Be- 
sides, they may be sick ; and then the child must 
rely upon others ; and will it not be useful to ac- 
custom him early to do so ? 

' I will not say, that many mothers are conscious 
that this train of reasoning, specious, though hol- 
low, as it is, passes through their 'minds. But 
that something like it is often made the occasion 
of substituting food which is less proper, for that 
furnished by divine Providence, there cannot be a 
doubt. And the mischief is, that she who has 
gone so far, will not scruple, ere long, to go farther. 
And, strange and unnatural as it may seem, that 
mothers should turn over their children to be 



FOOD. 117 



Unchristian. Aping- foreign fashions. The general rule. 



nursed wholly by others, in order to get rid of the 
inconvenience of nursing them at their own bosoms. 
It is only carrying out to its fullest extent, and re- 
ducing to practice, the train of reasoning mentioned 
above. 

Nor is it necessary that I should stop here, to 
denounce a course of conduct so unchristian and 
savage. I know it is very common in some coun- 
tries ; and those American mothers who ape the 
other eastern fashions, or countenance their sons 
and daughters in doing it, will not be dow to imi- 
tate this also, especially as it is a very convenient 
fashion. Yet I question w^hether I shall succeed 
in reasoning them out of it, if I try. I will, 
therefore, confine myself chiefly to those efforts 
at prevention, from which much more is to be 
hoped, in the present state of society, than from 
direct attempts at cure. 

It will be soon enough to leave a child with 
another person, when the mother is actually sick, 
or unavoidably absent ; or when some other ade- 
quate cause is actually present. We are to be 
governed, in these and similar cases, by general 
rules, and not by the exceptions. The general 
rule, in the present case, is, that mothers can nurse 
their own children ; and, if they have the proper 
disposition, that they can do it uninterruptedly. 



118 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Nursing does not weaken the mother. Why it does not. 

But those who are so ready to become counsel- 
lors on these occasions will tell us, perhaps, that 
the child must be "fed to spare the mother.'^ 
That is to say, nursing weakens the mother, and 
the child must be taken away, a part of the time, 
to save her strength. 

Now it may safely be doubted whether the pro- 
cess of nursing, in itself considered, does weaken, 
at all. The Author of nature has made provision 
for the secretion (formation) of the milk, whether 
the child receives it or not. If it is not taken by 
the child, or drawn off in some other way, one of 
two things must follow ; — either it must be taken 
up by what are called absorbent vessels, and car- 
ried into the circulation, and chiefly thrown out 
of the system as waste matter, or it will prove a 
source of irritation, if not of inflammation, to the 
organs themselves which secrete it. - In both cases, 
the strength of the mother is quite as likely to be 
taxed, as if the child received the milk in the way 
that nature intended. 

Besides, on this very principle, the plan of 
saving a mother's strength by requiring another to 
nurse for her, is but saying that we will weaken 
one person to save another. Or if we feed the 
child to "spare its mother," what is this, in prac- 
tice, but to say that the w^orks of the Creator are 



FOOD. 119 



Nursing children under six months. The first rule. 

very imperfect ; and that he has thrown upon the 
mass of mankind a task to which they are not 
equal ? For the mass of mankind are poor ; and 
the poor, having neither the means nor the time 
to escape the duties in question, must submit to 
them, while their more wealthy neighbors escape. 
But it is idle to defend customs so monstrous. 
They admit of no defence that has the slightest 
claim to solidity. The general rule then is, that 
mothers should nurse their owm children. I will 
now proceed to a few particulars. 

Sec. 2. Nursing — how often. 

Many lay it down, as an invariable rule, that no 
system can be pursued with a child, till it is six 
months old ; and it must be admitted by all, that 
for several months after birth, there are serious dif- 
ficulties in the way of determining, with any degree 
of precision, how often a child should be nursed or 
fed. Still there are a few rules of universal appli- 
cation, some of which are here presented. 
\iL^ A child should never be nursed, merely to 
quiet it ; for if this be done, it will soon learn to 
cry, whenever it feels the slightest uneasiness, not 
only from hunger, but from other causes ; merely 
to be gratified with nursing. Besides, if its cries 



120 THE YOUNG MOTHER, 

Second and third rules. A very common mistake. 

should happen to be from illness, it is. ten to one 
but the reception of anything into the stomach will 
do harm instead of good. 

2. The stomach, like every other organ in the 
body which is muscular, must'have time for rest ; 
and this in the case of children, as well as adults. 
But to nurse them too frequently is in opposition 
to this rule, and therefore of evil tendency. 

3. For reasons which may be seen by the last 
rule, there should be regular seasons for nursing, 
and these should be adhered to, especially by night. 
When very young, once in three hours may not be 
too frequent : I believe that it is seldom proper 
to nurse a child more frequently than this. But 
whenever three hours becomes a suitable period 
by day, once in four hours will be often enough by 
night. I will not undertake to say at what precise 
age children should be nursed at intervals of three 
and four hours each ; because some children are 
older, constitutionally J at three months, than others 
are at four. 

There is one grand mistake, however, against 
which I must caution young mothers ; which is, 
not to indulge the vain expectation that feeble in- 
fants will become robust, in proportion to their 
indulgence. On the contrary, it is the more neces- 
sary to be strict with feeble children, because they 



FOOD. 121 



Fourth rule. Dr. Dunglison's opinion. Errors in feeding. 

are feeble. To keep them hanging at the breast 
to invigorate them, is the very way to counteract 
our own intentions, and defeat our own purpose. 
Seasons of entire rest are even more important to 
their stomachs than to those of other persons. 

4. But in order to secure intervals of rest, both 
to the strong and the feeble, we must avoid the 
pernicious habit of giving infants pap, and other 
delicacies, ^^ between meals. '^ Many a child's 
health is ruined by this practice. Nothing should 
be put into their stomachs for many months — if 
they are in health — but the mother's milk. 

" This," says Dr. Dunglison, '*' is the sole food 
of the infant, and is consequently sufficiently nu- 
tritient to maintain life, and to minister to the 
growth, during the earliest periods of existence," * 
In another place he says — " Milk is an appropriate 
nourishment at all ages, and is more so the nearer 
to birth." 

Sec. 3. Quantity of Food. 

"We all know," says Dr. Dewees, "how easily 
the stomach may be made to demand more food 
than is absolutely required ; first, by the repetition 

* Elements of Hygiene, page 271. 



122 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Children over-fed. A common mistake. Leads to gluttony. 

of aliment, and secondly, by variety; — therefore 
both of these causes must be avoided. The stom- 
ach, like every other part, can, and unfortunately 
does, acquire habits highly injurious to itself; and 
that of demanding an unnecessary quantity of ali- 
ment is not one of the least. It should, therefore, 
be constantly borne in mind, that it is not the 
quantity of food taken into the stomach, that is 
available to the proper purposes of the system, 
but the quantity which can be digested, and con- 
verted into nourishment fit to be applied to such 
purposes." 

There is a good deal of truth in these remarks ; 
and especially in the closing one, that not all which 
is taken into the stomach is digested. It is highly 
probable that the least quantity which is usually 
given to an infant, is more than sufficient for the 
purposes of digestion ; and that nearly every child 
in the arms of its mother, is over-fed. 

I know it has been said, by some physicians — 
and by those who are sensible men, too, in other 
respects — that the child's stomach is a pretty 
correct guide in regard to quantity. If we give it 
too much, say they, it will reject it ; — as if that 
were an end of the matter. 

But it is not so. It is by no means harmless to 
fill the child's stomach as full as is possible without 



FOOD. 123 



Stomach maybe educated. Illustrations. Inference. 

overflowing. Such a process, though it should not 
create disease directly, would produce a glutton- 
ous habit. The stomach, being muscular, may be 
increased in size by use, like all other muscular 
organs. The hands, the arms, the legs, the feet, 
the fleshy portions of the face even, may be dis- 
proportionally enlarged by constant use. Thus a 
sailor, who uses his hands and arms much more 
than his legs and feet, has the former unusually 
large ; one who is much accustomed to walking, 
has large feet ; and in a tailor who, from childhood, 
uses his lower limbs comparatively little, they are 
both small and slender. On the same principle, 
the stomach, by inordinate use, and by carrying 
unreasonable loads, may be made nearly twice as 
large as nature intended, and may demand twice 
as much food. And I have no doubt that the 
bulk of mankind, young and old, eat about twice 
as much as nature, unperverted, would require. 

If the suggestions of our last section are duly 
attended to, one of the causes which lead the 
stomach to demand an unreasonable quantity of 
food, will be avoided — I mean the too frequent 
"repetition of aliment." And if we never depart 
from the general rule, already laid down, not to 
give the infant anything but its mother's milk, we 
shall escape the evils incident to variety. 



124 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

First change in diet. Mistakes. Ig-norance of digestion. 

Sec. 4. How long should Milk he the only Food. 

On this point there is a great diversity of opin- 
ion. Perhaps the most approved rule, of universal 
appHcation, is, that the first change should be made 
in the child's diet when the teeth begin to appear. 
This period, it is well known, cannot be fixed to 
any particular age, but varies from the fifth to the 
twelfth month. 

Some mothers who have borne with me patiently 
to this place, will probably here object. " What 
child," they will ask, " would ever have any 
strength, brought up so?" Not only a little pap 
and gruel is, in their estimation, necessary, long be- 
fore this period, but even many choice bits of meat. 

Now I am very sure, that these choice bitS' — 
whatever they may be — given to a child before it 
has teeth, not only do no good, but actually do 
mischief. Indeed, that which does no good in the 
stomach, must do harm, of course ; since it is not 
only in the way, but acts like a foreign body there, 
producing more or less of irritation. 

I ought to state, in this place, that many people 
— mothers among the rest — have very inadequate 
ideas of digestion. They appear to have no far- 
ther notion of the digestive process, than that it 
consists in reducing to a pulp the substances which 



FOOD. 125 



Not a mere dissolving" of the food. Explanations. 

are swallowed ; and hence, whatever is reduced to 
a pulp, they regard as being digested. Whereas 
nothing is better known to the anatomist and 
physiologist, than that this — the formation of chyme 
in the stomach — constitutes only a very small part 
of the digestive process. The chyme must pass 
into the duodenum, and other portions of intestine 
beyond the stomach, and be retained there for some 
time, before it will form perfect chyle. 

This is a more important part of the work of 
digestion than even the former. For, suppose 
the chyme to be perfect, though even this may be 
mere pulp, rather than chyme, and suppose it pass 
quietly along into the duodenum and other small 
intestines. All this process, thus far, may go on 
naturally enough, and yet the chyle may not be 
well formed, and the chymous mass may find its 
way out of the system without answering any of 
the purposes of nutrition. For no matter how 
well the food is dissolved in the stomach, if it do 
not become good and proper chyle, the blood which 
is formed will not be good and perfect blood ; or, 
lastly, if it seem to make good blood, it may still 
be faulty, so that the particles which should be 
applied to build up or repair the system, are either 
not used, or if used, answer the purpose but im- 
perfectly. 



126 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

The general rule. Exceptions. First exception illustrated. 

We hence see how Httle prepared a large pro- 
portion of the community are, to judge of the 
digestibihty or fitness of a substance for infants, by 
their own observation and experience merely; and 
how much more wisely they act, in contenting 
themselves with giving them — -at least until they 
have teeth— such food only as the Author of nature 
seems to have assigned them ; especially when this 
course is precisely that which is recommended or 
sanctioned by nearly every judicious physician, as 
well as by almost all our writers on health. 

Sec. 5. On Feeding before Teething. 

.Having laid down the general rule, that until 
the appearance of teeth, the sole food of an infant 
should be the milk of its own mother, I proceed 
to speak of some of the more common exceptions 
to it. 

Exception 1, — The first of these is when the 
supply furnished by the mother is scanty. There 
may be two causes of the scantiness of such sup- 
ply : — 1. The want of suitable nourishment by the 
mother ; and 2. A feeble constitution, or bad 
health. In the former case, it should be her first 
object, as it undoubtedly will be that of her physi- 



FOOD. 127 



Substitute for nature's food. Dr. Dewees, again. 

cian, to improve the quality of her diet ; and in the 
latter, to restore her health, or at least invigorate 
her constitution. 

In regard to the proper diet of a mother^ as 
such, as well as the general management which her 
case requires, a volume might be written without 
exhausting the subject. So much is required, 
that it would at least be out of place to attempt 
anything here. 

But we cannot wait for the mother's health to 
improve, and allow the infant to suffer, in the mean 
time, for a due supply of food. The appropriate 
question now is — How shall such a supply be fur- 
nished ? 

This should be done by means of an article re- 
sembling, in its properties, as closely as possible, 
the mother's milk. For this purpose, we have 
only to mix with a suitable quantity of new cow's 
milk one third of water, and sweeten it a little 
with loaf sugar. This is to be given to the child, 
at suitable intervals, and in proper quantities, by 
means of a common sucking bottle. It is, indeed, 
sometimes given with the spoon ; but the bottle is 
better. 

To the question, whether the child should be 
confined to this till the period of weaning. Dr. 
Dewees answers, No. I am surprised at this ; 



128 THE YOUNG MOTHEIU 

Variety of infants' food considered. Milk from the same cow. 

and my surprise is increased, when I find him, 
almost in the very next breath, urging with all his 
might, numerous reasons against the very common 
notion, that children in early Hfe require a variety 
of food. He even insists on the importance of 
confining the child to a single article of food when 
it is practicable. Yet he has not given us so much 
as one reason why it is not practicable in the case 
before us ; but has gone on to speak of barley 
water, gum arabic water, rice water, arrowroot, 
&;c. 1 venture, therefore, to dissent from him, and 
to answer the foregoing question in the affirmative. 
When one good and substantial reason can be 
given for change^ I will, however, re-consider the 
decision. 

I have already stated the general rule for pre- 
paring this substitute for the mother's milk. But 
there are several minor directions, which may be 
useful to those who are wholly without experience 
on the subject. 

If possible, the milk used should not only be just 
taken from the cow, but should always be from the 
same cow ; for it is well known that the quahty of 
milk often differs very materially, even among cows 
feeding in the same pasture, or from the same pile 
of hay ; and the stomach becomes most easily recon- 
ciled to the mixture when it is uniform in its quali- 



FOOD. 129 



Cleanliness. Freezing. Acidity. Dis^sting practices. 

ties. Great care should also be taken to see that 
the cow whose milk is used is young and healthy. 

The mixture should not be prepared any faster 
than it is wanted ; and should always be prepared 
in vessels perfectly clean and sweet, and given as 
soon as possible after it is prepared, to prevent 
any degree of fermentation. It is never so well 
to heat it by the fire. If taken from the cow just 
before it is used, and if the water to be added is 
warm enough, the temperature will hardly need 
to be raised any higher. 

When it is impracticable, in all cases, to take 
milk for this purpose immediately from the cow, it 
should be kept, in winter, where it will not freeze, 
and in summer, where there will be no tendency 
to acidity. 

SomiC mothers and nurses are addicted to the 
practice of passing the food through their own 
mouths, before they give it to the child ; with a 
view, no doubt, to see that it is at a proper tem- 
perature. This practice is not only wholly unne- 
cessary, but altogether disgusting, and even ridicu- 
lous. A thermometer would answer every purpose, 
and save even the trouble of another disgusting 
practice — that of blowing it with the breath. 

The most proper season for giving the child this 
preparation, is immediately after it has been nurs- 
9 



130 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Pure water. Sugar. Is sugar hurtful ? 

ing. It is better for both mother and child, that 
the latter should nurse just as often as though the 
supply of food was adequate to his wants. And 
when his first supply is exhausted, then let him 
make up his meal from the sucking bottle. The 
great advantage of this plan is, that he will not 
be so likely in this way to be over-fed. If he is 
really needy, he will accept the bottle, even if he 
do not like it quite so well ; if he refuse it, let him 
go without till he is hungry enough to receive it. 

In regard to the water used in the preparation, 
only one thing need be said ; which is, that it 
should be pure. If it is not, it should by all 
means be boiled. The sugar used should be of the 
very best kind ; and the quantity not large; since 
if the preparation be too sweet, it readily becomes 
acid in the stomach. 

There has been, and still is, a controversy going 
on among medical men, whether sugar is or is not 
hurtful to the young. '' Who shall decide, when 
doctors disagree?" has often been asked. With- 
out undertaking the task myself, I may perhaps 
be permitted to say, that I cannot see any reason 
why a substance so pure, and so highly nutritious 
as sugar — if given in very small quantity only — 
should prove injurious : though I do not regard 
the reasoning of Dr. Dewees as very conclusive 



{ 



FOOD. 131 



Cases in which a mother should not nurse her own child. 

on this subject, when, in reply to Dr. Cadogan, 
he uses the following language — " If sugar be im- 
proper, why does it so largely enter into the com- 
position of the early food of all animals. It is in 
vain that physicians declaim against this article, 
since it forms between seven and eight per cent of 
the mother's milk." Now with me, the fact that 
milk and almost all other kinds of food are fur- 
nished with a measure of this substance, is the 
strongest reason I am acquainted with for making 
no additions. I believe, however, that they may 
sometimes be made, but not for these reasons. 

Exception 2. — The second striking exception 
to the general rule that has been laid down is, 
when the mother is unable to nurse her own child 
from positive ill health, or when circumstances 
exist which render it obviously improper that she 
should do it. The following are some of the 
circumstances which render such a departure from 
nature indispensable : 

1. When the mother is affected strongly with a 
hereditary disease, such as consumption or scrofula; 
or when her constitution is tainted, as it were, with 
venereal disease, or other permanent affections. 

2. When nursing produces, uniformly, some 
very troublesome or dangerous disease in the 
mother j as cough, colic, &ic. 



132 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Sucking- bottles. Hired nurses. Feed the child slowly. 

3. There are a few instances in which the milk 
of the mother, owing to an unknown cause, has 
been found by experience to disagree with the 
child. In these circumstances, it is the unques- 
tionable duty of the mother to resort wholly to 
feeding. 

4. Sometimes the milk, at first abundant, fails 
suddenly, owing to some accidental or constitu- 
tional defect ; and this failure becomes habitual. 

In all these circumstances, the proper resort is 
to a sucking bottle, or a hired nurse. 1 generally 
prefer the latter. The cases which seem to me 
to admit of the former, will be pointed out in the 
next section. 

" When the bottle is used," says Dr. Dewees, 
'^ much care is requisite to preserve it sweet and 
free from all impurities, or the remains of the for- 
mer food, by which the present may be rendered 
impure, or sour ; for which purpose a great deal 
of caution must be observed." 

The business of feeding a child, whether by 
the bottle or the spoon, should never be hurried : 
the slower it is, the better. We should stop from 
time to time, during the process. Nor should 
the nourishment be given while lying down ; it 
is much more pleasant, as well as more safe, to 
sit up. 



FOOD. 133 

Boiling" milk. The stomach requires rest. 

A few thoughts more on the character and con- 
dition of the milk which we give to the young, 
will conclude the second division of this section. 

Some are fond of boiling milk for infants ; but 
to this I am decidedly opposed, so long as they 
are in health. Boiling takes away, or appears to 
take away, some of the best properties of the milk. 

It is true that milk which is boiled does not 
turn sour so readily in hot weather ; but it is quite 
unnecessary to boil milk in the common manner, 
in order to prevent its changing, since such a re- 
sult can be prevented by another process. You 
have only to put your milk in a kettle, cover it 
closely, and heat it quickly to the boiling point, 
and then remove and cool it as speedily as possi- 
ble. This plan prevents the rising to the surface 
of that coat or pellicle which contains some of the 
most valuable properties of the milk. 

I have already said that it was as necessary that 
the stomach should have rest as any other mus- 
cular organ. Some writers say that the infant 
should be kept perfectly quiet, at least half an 
hour, after each meal. This is certainly necessary 
with feeble children, but I question its necessity in 
the case of those who are strong and robust. I 
would not recommend, however, nor even tolerate, 
for one moment, the absurd practice oi jolting, so 



134 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Jolting. Tossing'. Sucking bottles for playthings. 

common with a few ignorant nurses and mothers, 
as if they could jolt down the food in the stomach, 
with just as much safety as they can shake down 
the contents of a farmer's bag of produce. Such 
mothers as these should go and reside among the 
native tribes of Indians in Guiana, in South Ame- 
rica, where they make it a point not only to stuff 
their children's stomachs as long as they will hold, 
but actually to sh^ke the food down. 

Little less absurd than jolting is the custom of 
tossing a child high, in quick succession, which is 
practised not only after meals, but at other times. 
But on this point I have treated elsewhere. 

Some give the sucking bottle to children as a 
plaything. This is just about as wise a practice 
as that of giving them books as playthings. Both 
are done, usually, to save the time and trouble of 
those whose office it is to devote their time to the 
very purpose of managing and educating their off- 
spring. The evil, however, of suffering the child 
to have the bottle when it pleases is, that he will 
thus be tasting food so often as to interfere with 
and disturb the process of digestion, to his great 
and lasting injury. For in this way, a part of the 
food will pass from the stomach into the bowels 
unchanged, or at least but imperfectly digested, 
where it is liable to become sour, and cause dis- 



FOOD. 135 



Dirty vessels. Poisonous ones. Nursing- the sick. 

ease. It is not to be doubted that many diar- 
rhoeas, as well as other bowel affections, are pro- 
duced in this way. Children that are always 
eating are seldom healthy ; and we may hence 
see the reason. 

In speaking of the importance of keeping the 
bottle from which a child takes his food perfectly 
clean and sweet, I ought to have extended the 
injunction much farther. There is a degree of 
slovenliness sometimes observable in those who 
manage children, both when they are sick and 
when they are in health, which even common 
sense cannot and ought not to tolerate. Every 
vessel which is used in preparing or administer- 
ing anything for children, ought, after we have 
used it, to be immediately and effectually cleansed. 
How shocking is it to see dirty vessels standing in 
the nursery from hour to hour, becoming sour or 
impure ! How much more so still, to see food in 
copper vessels, or in the red earthen ones, glazed 
with a poisonous oxyd! I speak now more par- 
ticularly of vessels in which food is given ; for 
with the administration of medicine, and nursing 
the sick, I do not intend in this volume to inter- 
fere. 

Exception 3. — ^We come now to the considera- 
tion of those cases — for such it will not be doubted 



136 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Character of nurses. A question started in morals. 

there are — where a hired nurse is to be preferred 
to feeding by the hand. 

Before proceeding farther, however, it is impor- 
tant to say, that if a nurse could always be pro- 
cured whose health, and temper, and habits were 
good, who had no infant of her own, and who 
would do as well for the infant, in every respect, 
as his own mother, it would be preferable to have 
no feeding by the hand at all. 

But such nurses are very scarce. Their tem- 
per, or habits, or geiteral health will often be such 
as no genuine parent would desire, and such as 
they ought to be sorry to see engrafted, in any 
degree, on the child. For even admitting what is 
claimed by some, that the temper of the nurse 
does not affect the properties of the milk, and thus 
injure the child both physically and morally, still 
much injury may and inevitably will result from 
the influence of her constant presence and ex- 
ample.^ 

Others have infants of their own, in which case 
either their own child or the adopted one will 
suffer ; and in a majority of cases, it can scarcely 
be doubted which it will be. And I doubt the 
morality of requiring a nurse, in these cases, to 
give up her own child wholly. If one must be 
fedj why not our own, as well as that of another? 



FOOD. 137 



Several important rules. Oversight of parents. 

The only cases, then, which seem to me to 
justify the employment of a nurse, are where she 
possesses at least the qualifications above men- 
tioned ; and as these are rare, not many nurses, 
of course, would on this principle be employed. 
But when employed, it is highly desirable that 
the following rules should be observed : 

1. The nurse should suckle the child at both 
breasts ; otherwise he is liable to acquire a degree 
of crookedness in his form. There is another evil 
which sometimes results from the too common 
neglect of this rule, which is, that it endangers the 
deterioration of the quality of the milk. 

2. The milk w^hich is thus substituted for that 
of the mother, should be as nearly as possible of 
the same age as the child who is to receive it. It 
should be remembered, how^ever, that the milk is 
not so good after the twelfth or thirteenth month, 
nor quite so good under the third. 

3. When the parent or some trusty and confi- 
dential friend can, without the aid of interested 
spies and emissaries, have an eye to the general 
treatment, and especially to the moral manage- 
ment, it should be done ; for even the best nurses 
may so differ in their principles, manners and 
habits from the parent, that the latter would deem 



138 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Proper age for weaning-. Opinion of Dr. Cullen. 

it preferable to withdraw the child, and resort at 
once to feeding. 

Sec. 6. From Teething to Weaning. 

This period will, of course, be longer or shorter 
according as the teeth begin to appear earlier or 
later, and according to the time when it is thought 
proper to wean. 

On few points, perhaps, has there existed a 
greater diversity of opinion than in regard to the 
age most proper for weaning. The limits of this 
work do not permit a thorough discussion of the 
question ; and I shall therefore be very brief in 
my remarks on the subject. 

Dr. Cullen, whose opinion on topics of this 
kind is certainly entitled to much respect, thought 
that less than seven, or more than eleven months 
of nursing was injurious. Yet in some countries, 
and even in some parts of our own, the period is 
extended by the mother, from choice, to two 
years. And although the milk is not so good 
after the thirteenth or fourteenth month, I have 
never either known or heard that any evil conse- 
quences followed from the practice. 

It appears to me better, therefore, that the 
child should be nursed, in nearly all cases, from 



I 



FOOD. 139 



Weaning in summer. Character of the first food. 

twelve to fourteen months; and when there are 
no special objections, somewhat longer. As the 
change, whenever it is made, and however gradual 
it may be, is an important one, in its effects on 
the stomach and bowels, it is better to wean a 
little earlier or a httle later, than to do so just at 
the close of summer or beginning of autumn, 
at which season bowel complaints are most com- 
mon, most severe, and most dangerous. It is 
sufficiently unfortunate, that teething should com- 
mence just at this period ; but when we add 
another cause of irregular action, which we can 
control, to one which we cannot, we act very un- 
wisely. 

I have already observed that w^e may begin to 
feed children when the teeth begin to appear. 
By this is not meant that we should do so while 
the system is under the irritation to w^hich teeth- 
ing usually, or at least often, subjects it. But 
when this is over, and a few teeth have appeared, 
it is usually a proper time to commence our opera- 
tions. 

The first food given should be precisely of the 
kind which has been recommended for those chil- 
dren who are fed by the hand. The rules and 
restrictions by which we are to be guided are the 



140 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

A word to parents. Animal broth objectionable. 

same, except in one point, which is, that in the 
case we are now considering, the child should be 
fed between nursing. 

Let not parents be anxious about their healthy- 
children under two years, who have a supply of 
good milk either from the mother or from the 
cow. For those that are feeble, a physician may 
and ought to prescribe — not medicine, but appro- 
priate food, drink, &:c. 

When the grinding teeth have cut through, if 
we have any doubts in regard to the nutritive 
qualities of the food we are giving, we may im- 
prove it by adding, instead of the one third of 
pure water, a similar quantity of gum arabic water, 
barley water, or rice water. Some use a little 
weak animal broth ; but this is unnecessary, and I 
think, on the whole, injurious, except for purposes 
strictly medicinal. 

This course is so simple, and so far removed 
from that which is generally adopted, that few 
mothers will probably be willing to pursue it with 
perseverance, especially when the teeth appear 
very late. Those who are, however, will be 
richly rewarded, in the end, in the advantages 
which will accrue to the child's health, and the 
vigor it will ensure to his constitution. 



FOOD. 141 



Season of weaning. Not to wean too suddenly. 

Sec. 7. During the process of Weaning. 

It has already been shown that, in weaning, 
some regard should be had to the season of the 
year ; and that the end of summer and beginning 
of fall are, of all periods, the most unfavorable. 
The best time, on every account, is in the spring 
— in March, April, May or June ; and the next 
best is during the months of October and Novem- 
ber. But December, January and February are 
better than July, August and September. 

Weaning should never be sudden. We* may 
safely and properly call upon those who, are ad- 
dicted to snufF or opium taking, tobacco chewing, 
rum drinking, and other habits which are purely 
artificial, to break off — to wean themselves — sud- 
denly ; since they can do so wdth considerable 
safety, and will seldom have the courage or the 
perseverance to do it otherwise. But W'ith the 
child, in regard to his food, such a course will not 
be advisable. If we regard his future health or 
happiness, he must be weaned gradually. 

The first proper step will be, to give the child a 
little larger quantity of the cow's milk and gum 
arabic mixture, between nursings, at the same time 
increasing very gradually the intervals of nursing. 
When the intervals become six hours distant from 



142 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Exciting the child's aversion. Food which is too solid. 

each other, it will be best to add a little good 
bread to the milk with which he is fed, about two 
or three times a day. Arrowroot jelly, if he can 
be made to relish it, will be highly useful ; but if 
not, some boiled rice, into which a little arrowroot 
has been sprinkled while boiling, may be added to 
his milk. 

It may be worth the attempt, to excite an aver- 
sion in the child to nursing his mother, so that he 
will refuse to nurse, if possible, of his own accord. 
This aversion may be excited by such an applica- 
tion of aloes, or some other offensive substance, as 
will cause him to withdraw himself from the breast 
as soon as he tastes it. 

A serious mistake is often made, in connection 
with weaning, not only in giving the child too 
much food, but that which is too solid, or too rich. 
This mistake has undoubtedly grown out of the 
belief that his feeble condition requires it; whereas 
the truth is, that he neither needs such food at this 
period, nor is capable of digesting it. For let us 
be as judicious in the process of weaning as we 
may, the tone of the child's stomach will be some- 
what reduced, or in other words, its powers of 
digestion will be weakened by it ; and to give it 
strong food, or to overload it with that which is 
weaker, is not only unreasonable and unphilosophi- 



FOOD. 143 



Changes of the child's food. Buchan's opinion. 

cal, but cruel. And if there should be a ten- 
dency in the child's constitution to scrofula, rick- 
ets, consumption, and other wasting diseases, such 
a course would be likely to bring them on, and 
destroy life. 

"When milk will agree," says Dr. Dewees^ 
" there is no food so proper. It may be employed 
in any of its combinations, with good w^heaten 
bread, rice, sago, &:c., only remembering that 
w^hen either of these articles is found to agree, it 
should be continued perse veringly, until it may 
become offensive. In this case, some new com- 
bination may be required." I do not see the 
necessity of continuing one kind of food till it 
offends. Besides, I do not believe that these 
simple articles of food are apt to wear out, in 
stomachs that have not already been spoiled. 
But w^hether a single dish should or should not 
come to be offensive, I greatly prefer an occasional 
change. 

Buchan, in his Advice to Mothers, has recom- 
mended it to them to boil bread for their infants, 
in w^ater. It should not, for this purpose — nor 
indeed for any other — ^be new ; it is best at one 
or two days old. It may be boiled in a small 
quantity of water, or what is still better, of milk ; 



144 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Preparations of gum arable, &c. Health of the mother. 

or it may be steamed till it becomes soft and light, 
almost like new bread, but without any of the 
objectionable properties of that which is wholly 
new. To bread, thus prepared, is to be added a 
suitable quantity of milk, fresh from the cow, and 
a little diluted with water, but not boiled. 

But as there may be, here and there, at any 
age, a stomach with which milk, with bread, or 
rice, or sago, will not agree — though I think they 
must be very rare cases — we may be allowed to 
substitute for it a solution of " gum arable, in the 
proportion of an ounce to a pint of water," to 
which may be added a little sugar ; and if the 
child is old enough to observe the color, just milk 
enough to change the appearance. Another pre- 
paration for the same purpose consists of rennet 
whey, a httle sweetened, and " disguised, if neces- 
sary, as just stated." 

The health of the mother, too, during the 
period of weaning, often needs great attention ; 
but it would be foreign to my present purpose to 
give any specific directions on that point, other 
than to say — Avoid medicine, if possible. A due 
regard to food, drink, exercise and rest of body 
and mind, &ic., will usually be found more effec- 
tive, as well as more permanently efficacious. 



FOOD. 145 



Dr. Cadogan's views. Great mortality of children. 

Sec. 8. Food subsequently to Weaning. 

You will allow me to introduce, in this place, 
some of the sentiments of Dr. Cadogan, an English 
physician, from a little work on the management 
of children."* I do it with the more pleasure, 
because, though he wrote almost a century ago, 
he urges the same general principles on which I 
have all along been insisting : hence it will be 
seen that mine are no new-fangled notions. His 
remarks refer to the young of every age, but 
chiefly early infancy and childhood. It will be 
found necessary, in some instances, to abridge, but 
I shall endeavor not to misrepresent the Doctor's 
views. 

" Look over the bills of mortality. About half 
of those who fill up that black list, die under five 
years of age ; so that half the people that come 
into the world, go out of it again, before they be- 
come of the least use to it or to themselves. 



^ Though Dr. C.'s remarks will apply more closely to 
England in 1750, they are by no means inapplicable to 
the United States in 1836. 

10 



146 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Infants naturally healthy. Advantages of poverty, 

^^ It is ridiculous to charge it upon nature, and 
to suppose that infants are more subject to disease 
and death than grown persons : on the contrary, 
they bear pain and disease much better — fevers 
especially ; and for the same reason that a twig is 
less hurt by a storm than an oak. 

'^ In all the other productions of nature, we see 
the greatest vigor and luxuriancy of health, the 
nearer they are to the egg or bud. When was 
there a lamb, a bird, or a tree, that died because 
it was young ? These are under the immediate 
nursing of unerring nature ; and they thrive ac- 
cordingly. 

" Ought it not, therefore, to be the care of every 
nurse and every parent, not only to pptect their 
nurslings from injury, but to be well assured that 
their own ofScious services be not the greatest 
evils the helpless creatures can suffer ? 

'' In the lower class of mankind, especially in 
the country, disease and mortality are not so 
frequent, either among adults or their children. 
Health and posterity are the portion of the poor — 
I mean the laborious. The want of superfluity 
confines them more within the limits of nature ; 
hence they enjoy the blessings they feel not, and 
are ignorant of their cause. 



FOOD. 147 



Causes of infantile disease. Swaddling and cramming. 

" In the course of my practice^ I have had 
frequent occasion to be fully satisfied of this ; and 
have often heard a mother anxiously say, 'the 
child has not been well ever since it has done 
puking and crying.' 

'' These complaints, though not attended to, 
point very plainly to the cause. Is it not very 
evident, that when a child rids its stomach of its 
contents several times a day, it has been over- 
loaded ? While the natural strength lasts, (for 
every child is born with more health and strength 
than is generally imagined.) it cries at or rejects 
the superfluous load, and thrives apace; that is, 
grows very fat, bloated, and distended beyond 
measure, like a house lamb. 

^' But in time, the same oppressive cause con- 
tinuing, the natural powers are overcome, being 
no longer able to throw ofi' the unequal weight. 
The child, now unable to cry any more, languishes 
and is quiet. 

^' The misfortune is, that these complaints are 
not understood. The child is swaddled and 
crammed on, till, after gripes, purging, &c., it 
sinks under both burdens into a convulsion fit, and 
escapes farther torture. This would be the case 
with the lamb;j were it not killed, when full fat. 



148 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Over-clothing and over-feeding-. Better to follow nature. 

" That the present mode of nursing is wrong, 
one would think needed no other proof than the 
frequent miscarriages attending it, the death of 
many, and the ill health of those that survive. 
But what I am going to complain of is, that chil- 
dren, in general, are over-clothed and over-fed, 
and fed and clothed improperly. To these causes 
I attribute almost all their diseases, 

"But the feeding of children is much more 
important to them than their clothing. Let us 
consider what nature directs in the case. If we 
follow nature, instead of leading or driving her, 
we cannot err. In the business of nursing, as 
w^ell as physic, art, if it do not exactly copy this 
original, is ever destructive. 

'^ If I could prevail, no child should ever be 
crammed with any unnatural mixture, till the pro- 
vision of nature was ready for it ; nor afterwards 
fed with any ungenial diet whatever, at least for 
the first three months ; for it is not w ell able to 
digest and assimilate other elements sooner. 

" I have seen very healthy children that never 
ate or drank anything whatever but their mother's 
milk, for the first ten or twelve months. Nature 
seems to direct to this, by giving them no teeth 
till about that time. The call of nature should 



FOOD. 149 



How many children are made sick. A common error. 

be waited for to feed them with anything more 
substantial; and the appetite ought ever to pre- 
cede the food — not only with regard to the daily 
meals, but those changes of diet which opening, 
increasing life requires. But this is never done, in 
either case ; which is one of the greatest mistakes 
of all nurses. 

" When the child requires more solid suste* 
nance, we are to inquire what and how much is 
most proper to give it. We may be well assured 
there is a great mistake either in the quantity or 
quality of children's food, or both, as it is usually 
given them, because they are made sick by it ; 
for to this mistake I cannot help imputing nine in 
ten of all their diseases. 

"As to quantity, there is a most ridiculous 
error in the common practice ; for it is generally 
supposed that whenever a child cries, it wants 
victuals : it is accordingly fed ten or twelve or 
more times in a day and night. This is so ob- 
vious a misapprehension, that I am surprised it 
should ever prevail. 

" If a child's wants and motions be diligently 
and judiciously attended to, it will be found that it 
never cries, but from pain. Now the first sensa- 
tions of hunger are not attended with pain ; aC' 



150 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Food not simple enough. Of sugar, spices and wine. 

cordingly, a very young child that is hungry will 
make a hundred other signs of its want, before it 
will cry for food. If it be healthy, and quite easy 
in its dress, it will hardly ever cry at all. Indeed, 
these signs and motions I speak of are but rarely 
observed, because it seldom happens that children 
are ever suffered to be hungry."^ 

" In a few, very few, whom I have had the 
pleasure to see reasonably nursed, that were not 
fed above two or three times in twenty-four hours, 
and yet were perfectly healthy, active and happy, 
I have seen these signals, which were as intelligi- 
ble as if they had spoken. 

" There are many faults in the quality of chil- 
dren's food. 

^^1. It is not simple enough. Their paps, 
panadas, gruels, &c. are generally enriched with 
sugar, spices and other nice things, and sometimes 
a drop of wine ; none of which they ought ever 
to take. Our bodies never want them ; they are 
what luxury only has introduced, to the destruc- 
tion of the health of mankind. 



^ That which we commonly observe in them, in such 
cases, and call by the name of hunger, the doctor, I 
suppose, would regard as a morbid or unnatural feeling, 
wholly unworthy of the name of HUJxaER. 



FOOD. 151 



Light food. Bread. Milk. Author's opinion of sugar. 

*^ 2. It is not enough that their food should be 
simple ; it should also be light. Many people, I 
find^ are mistaken in their notions of what is light, 
and fancy that most kinds of pastry, puddings, 
custards, Sjc. are light ; that is, light of digestion. 
But there is nothing heavier, in this sense, than 
unfermented flour and eggs, boiled hard, which are 
the chief ingredients in some of these preparations. 

" What I mean by light food — to give the best 
idea I can of it — is any substance that is easily 
separated, and soluble in warm water. Good bread 
is the lightest thing I know, and the fittest food for 
young children. Cows' milk is also simple and 
light, and very good for them ; but it is often in- 
judiciously prepared. It should never be boiled ; 
for boiling alters the taste and properties of it ; de- 
stroys it sweetness, and makes it thicker, heavier, 
and less fit to mix and assimilate with the blood." 

It is hardly necessary for me to repeat, that in 
these general views of Dr. C, with a few ex- 
ceptions, I entirely concur ; indeed some of them 
have already been presented. But I have ex- 
pressed my doubts of the soundness of his con- 
clusion in regard to sugar. Used with food, in 
very small quantity, by persons whose stomachs 
are already in good condition, both sugar and mo- 



152 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Simplicity. Variety. Injurious preparations of food. 

lasses, especially the former, appear to me not 
only harmless, but wholesome and useful. 

On the sul^ect of simplicity in children's food, 
I should be glad to enlarge. There is nothing 
more important in diet than simplicity, and yet I 
think there is nothing more rare. To suit the 
fashion, everything must be mixed and varied. 
I have no objection to variety at different meals, 
both for children and adults ; indeed I am dis- 
posed to recommend it, as will be seen hereafter* 
But I am utterly opposed to any considerable 
variety at the same meal ; and above all, in a 
single dish. The simpler a dish can be, the 
better. 

But let us look, for a moment, at the dishes of 
food which are often presented, even at what are 
called plain tables. 

Meats cannot be eaten — so many persons think 
— without being covered with mustard, or pepper, 
or gravy — or soaked in vinegar ; and not a few 
regard them as insipid, unless several of these are 
combined. Few people think a piece of plain 
boiled or broiled muscle (lean flesh,) with nothing 
on it but a little salt, is fit to be eaten. Every- 
thing must be rendered more stimulating or acrid ; 
or must be swimming in gravy, or melted fat, or 
butter. 



FOOD. 153 



Simple food seldom eaten. Few relish it. 

Bread, though proverbially the staff of life, can 
scarcely be eaten in its simple state. It must be 
buttered, or honied, or toasted, or soaked in milk, 
or dipped in gravy. Puddings must have cherries, 
or fruits of some sort, or spices in them, and must 
be sweetened largely. Or perhaps — more ridicu- 
lous still — they must have suet in them. And 
after all this is done, who can eat them without the 
addition of sauce, or butter, or molasses, or cream ? 
Potatoes, boiled, steamed or roasted, delightful as 
they are to an unperverted appetite, are yet 
thought by many people hardly palatable till 
they are mashed, and buttered or gravied ; or 
perhaps soaked in vinegar. In short, the plainest 
and simplest article for the table is deemed nearly 
unfit for the stomach, till it has been buttered, and 
peppered, and spiced, and perhaps pearlashed. 
Even bread and milk must be filled with berries or 
fruits. 

Where can you find many adults who would 
relish a meal which should consist entirely of plain 
bread, without any addition ; of plain potatoes, 
without anything on them except a little salt ; of 
a plain rice pudding, and nothing with it; or of 
plain baked or boiled apples or pears? And 
could such persons be found, how many of them 
would bring up their children to live on such plain 
dishes ? 



154 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Light food. Bread the best. Why bread is eaten. 

It need not be wondered at, that a palate which 
has been so long tickled by variety, and by so 
many stimulating mixtures of food, should come to 
regard cold water for drink as insipid ; and should 
feel dissatisfied with it, and desirous of boiling 
some narcotic or poisonous herb in it, or brewing 
it with something which will impart to it more or 
less of alcohol. The wonder is, not that some of 
our epicures become drunkards, but that all of them 
do not. 

Dr. Cadogan alludes to a sad mistake every- 
where made about light food ; and condemns, very 
justly, hard-boiled custards, pastry, &c. It is 
very strange that these substances — for these are 
among the injurious articles which I call mixtures — 
should ever have obtained currency in the world, 
to the exclusion of bread, which, as the same 
writer justly says, is among the lightest articles of 
food which are known. 

It is strange, in particular, what views people 
have about bread. Judging from what I see, I 
am compelled to believe that there are few who 
regard it in any other light than as a kind of ne- 
cessary evil. They appear to eat it, not because 
they are fond of it, by itself, but because they 
must eat it ; or rather, because it is a fashionable 
article ; and not to make believe they eat it, at the 



FOOD. 155 



Cold bread unfashionable. A great mistake. 

least, would be unfashionable. They will get rid 
of it, however, when they can. And when they 
must eat it, they soak it, or cover it with butter 
or milk, or something else which will render it 
tolerable — or toast it. And use it as they may, 
it must be hot from the oven. After it is once 
cold, very few will eat it. The idea, above all, of 
making a full meal of simple cold bread, twenty- 
four hours old, would be rejected by ninety-nine 
persons in a hundred ; and by some with abhor- 
rence. 

People not only dislike bread, but regard it as 
innutritious. I have heard many a fond parent 
say to the child who ate no meat, and seemed to 
depend almost wholly on bread — '^ Why, my dear 
child, you will starve if you eat no meat. Do at 
least put some butter on your bread or your po- 
tatoes." A thousand times have I been admon- 
ished, when eating my vegetable dinner during the 
hot and fatiguing days of summer — for I was bred 
to the farm, and ate little or no me^at till I was 
fourteen years of age — to eat more butter, or 
cheese, or something that would give me strength; 
for I could not work, they said, without something 
more nourishing than bread and the other vegeta- 
bles. And yet few if any boys of my age did 
more work, or performed it better, or with more 



156 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Fat hardly digested. Dr. Beaumont's experiments. 

ease, than myself. And I early observed the 
same thing in other vegetable eaters. 

The truth is, there is nothing in the world 
better adapted to the daily wants of the human 
stomach than good bread ; and few things more 
nutritious. There may be a little more nutriment 
in eggs or jelly ; but if the former are hard-boiled, 
the stomach cannot digest them ; and fat meat of 
any kind is digested with great difficulty. Indeed, 
it is doubtful whether stomachs in temperate cli- 
mates digest fat at all. They may dissolve it, 
but that is not making good chyle of it. They 
may even reduce it to chyle ; but chyle is not 
blood. Fat may slip through the system without 
much of it adhering ; and I think it pretty evi- 
dent that it usually does so. 

The muscle — the lean part of animals — may 
be nearly as nutritious as good bread, and is 
more easily digested. But it is very far from 
being proved that, for the healthy, those things 
are always best which are most easily digested. 
Nobody will pretend that potatoes are better for 
us than bread ; and yet the experiments of Dr. 
Beaumont seem to prove that boiled or roasted 
potatoes are much more quick and easy of diges- 
tion than bread of the first and best quality. 
Even over-boiled eggs, and raw cabbage, bad 



FOOD. 157 



Locke's opinions. Our teeth made to be used. 

as they are, are dissolved in the stomach, and 
appear to be digested as quick, if not quicker, 
than good wheat bread. But nobody in the 
world will pretend they form more wholesome 
food. Neither is meat — even lean meat — neces- 
sarily more wholesome, or better calculated to 
give strength than bread, simply because it is more 
quickly and easily digested. It would be nearer 
the truth to say, that those substances which digest 
slowest (provided they do not irritate) are best 
adapted to the wants of the human stomach. 

The philosopher Locke — perhaps from his 
knowledge of medicine — gives some excellent di- 
rections on this subject. " Great care should be 
used," he says, that the child " eat bread plenti- 
fully, both alone and with everything else';; and 
whatever he eats that is solid, make him chew it 
well." This writer, by the way, supposed that 
the teeth were made to be used in beating our 
food ; and that we ought neither to swallow it 
without chewing, as is customary in our busy New 
England, nor to mash or soak it in order to save 
the labor of mastication — a practice almost equally 
universal. But let us hear his own words. 

'' As for his diet, it ought to be very plain and 
simple ; and if I might advise, flesh should be 
forborne, at least till he is two or three years old. 



158 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Cramming-. No flesh required during infancy. 

But of whatever advantage this may be to his 
future health and strength, I fear it will hardly be 
consented to by parents, misled by the custom 
of eating too much flesh themselves, who will be 
apt to think their children — as they do themselves 
— in danger to be starved, if they have not flesh 
at least twice a day. This I am sure, children 
would breed their teeth with much less danger, be 
freer from diseases while they were little, and lay 
the foundations of a healthy and strong constitu- 
tion much surer, if they were not crammed so 
much as they are, by fond mothers and foolish 
servants, and were kept wholly from flesh the first 
three or four years of their lives. ^' 

Were Locke still living, I shoiild like to inter- 
rogate him at this place. He first speaks of giv- 
ing children no meat till they are two or three 
years old ; and then afterwards extends the 
period to three or four. The question I would 
put is this — If the child is healthier without meat 
till he is three or four years old, why not till he is 
thirteen or fourteen ; or even till thirty, or forty, 
or seventy ? And is not Professor Stuart of An- 
dover — a meat eater himself, and an advocate for 
its moderate use by those who have already been 
trained to the use of it — is not the professor, I 
say, more than half right when he asserts, as I 



FOOD. 159 



Eating between meals. Habit. Plow to make gluttons. 

have heard him, that it may be well to train all 
children, from the first, to the exclusive use of 
vegetable food ? 

I have a few more extracts from Locke, par- 
ticularly on the subject of bread. 

" I should think that a good piece of well made 
and w^ell baked brown bread would be often the 
best breakfast for my young master. I am sure it 
is as wholesome, and will make him as strong a 
man, as greater delicacies ; and if he be used to it, 
it will be as pleasant to him. 

'' If he, at any time, call for victuals between 
meals, use him to nothing but dry bread. If he 
be hungry more than wanton, bread will go down; 
and if he be not hungry, it is not fit that he 
should eat. By this you will obtain two good 
effects. First, that by custom he will come to be 
in love with bread ; for, as I said, our palates, and 
stomachs, too, are pleased with the things we are 
used to. Another good you will gain hereby is, 
that you will not teach him to eat more nor oftener 
than nature requires. 

" I do not think that all people's appetites are 
alike ; some have naturally stronger and some 
weaker stomachs. But this I think, that many 
are made gormands and gluttons by custom, that 
were not so by nature. And I see, in some 



160 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Roman customs. Augustus. Seneca. Their young men. 

countries, men as lusty and strong that eat but 
two meals a day, as those that have set their 
stomachs, by a constant usage, to call on them for 
four or five. 

" The Romans usually fasted till supper — the 
only set meal, even of those who ate more than 
once a day ; and those who used breakfasts, as 
some did at eight, some at ten, others at twelve 
of the clock, and some later, neither ate flesh nor 
had anything made ready for them. 

" Augustus, when the greatest monarch on the 
earth, tells us he took a piece of dry bread in his 
chariot ; and Seneca, in his 83d epistle, giving an 
account how he managed himself when he was 
old, and his age permitted indulgence, says that 
he used to eat a piece of dry bread for his dinner, 
without the formality of sitting to it. Yet Seneca, 
as it is well known, was wealthy. 
. *^ The masters of the world w^ere brought up 
with this spare diet, and the young gentlemen of 
Rome felt no want of strength or spirit, because 
they ate but once a day. Or if it happened by 
chance that any one could not fast so long as till 
supper, their only set meal, he took nothing but a 
bit of dry bread, or at most a few raisins or some 
such slight thing with it, to stay his stomach. 
And more than one set meal a day was thought 



FOOD. 161 



Medical writers generally. Their want of faith in mankind. 

SO monstrous that it was a reproach, as low as 
Caesar's time, to make an entertainment, or sit 
down to a table, till towards sunset. Therefore I 
judge it most convenient that my young master 
should have nothing but bread for breakfast. I 
impute a great part of our diseases in England 
to our eating too much flesh, and too little bread. 
Dry bread, though the best nourishment, has the 
least temptation." 

I shall not undertake to defend all the senti- 
ments of Mr. Locke in these extracts ; but in 
regard to the main point — the nutritive properties 
and wholesome tendency of bread, and the impor- 
tance of making it a principal article of diet for 
children — I think his views are just. In short, 
they do not differ, substantially, from those of a 
large proportion of the best writers on this subject 
in every country, during the last three hundred 
years. As if with one voice, they dissuade from 
the use of too much animal food for the young, 
and encourage the use of a larger proportion of 
vegetable food — bread, plain puddings, rice, pota- 
toes, turnips, beets, apples, pears, &;c., and milk. 

Yet they all, or nearly all, seem to write just as 
if they did not expect to be believed ; or if be- 
lieved, to be followed. They seem to regard 
mankind as so inveterately attached to old habits, 
11 



162 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

There is hope. Little variation of diet after weaning. 

and so much addicted to flesh eating, that there is 
little hope of reclaiming them. 

Now, though my opinions are no more entitled 
to respect than many of theirs, I hope for greater 
success than they appear to do. I expect that 
many young mothers who read this work, will be 
led to think and inquire further on the subject ; 
and if they find that the views here advanced are 
in accordance with reason, and common sense, 
and higher authority, I am not without hope that 
they will reform, and do what they can to reform 
their neighbors. 

I have dwelt the longer, in this section, on the 
general principles of diet, because I am of opinion 
that whatever is true, on this subject, in regard to 
the diet of children, soon after weaning, is equally, 
or nearly equally applicable to the whole of child- 
hood, youth, manhood and age. It is not true 
that one period of life, and one mode of employ- 
ment, demands a diet essentially different from 
that which is demanded at another period, and in 
other circumstances ; provided always, that the 
individual is in health. Occasional instances ef 
the kind there may be, but they are not numerous. 

The digestive powers of the young are more 
nearly as strong as those of the adult than is usually 
admitted ] and they are much more active. They 



FOOD. 163 



Case of hard laborers. Who it is that require most food. 

require a less quantity of food, undoubtedly ; and 
they should be fed at shorter mtervals. But as a 
general rule, what is best for them, as regards its 
quality, at three years old, is best for them at 
thirty ; or should they live so long, at ninety. 
I repeat it : there is very little difference in the 
nature of the food required, ever after teething. 

Let me not be understood as 'saying that the 
strong, and the robust, and the active cannot digest 
food which the weak, and enervated, and indolent 
cannot. Undoubtedly they can. But this does 
not prove that they ought to do it. It does not 
prove that their strength and vigor were not given 
them for other purposes than to be expended on 
w^orse substances for food, when they might have 
better. Nor is it true, as often pretended, that 
the hard laborer needs either more food, or that 
which is of a stronger quality, just in proportion 
to the severity of his labor. The man or the 
child who labors moderately, just sufficient for the 
purposes of health, and labors with his hands in 
the open air, needs rather more food tban the 
indolent or the sedentary, or those who labor to 
excess; but not that which is of a stronger quahty. 
It is he who labors to excess — if any difference 
of quahty were required at all — w^ho should eat 
milder food, as well as less in quantity. 



164 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Bread and water only. Not the best living. 

Some physicians there are who tell us that all 
mankind would live longer, as well as be more 
healthful, if they ate nothing but bread, and drank 
nothing but water. It may be so, but I do not 
beHeve it. Water, as I shall show hereafter, is 
indeed the only appropriate drink ; but I do not 
believe that bread, even after the second year, is 
in all cases and circumstances the best food. Be- 
sides that the experiments of Majendie and other 
physiologists go a little way — though not far, I 
confess, to prove that animals generally, (and if 
so, why not man, as well as the rest,) thrive best 
with some degree of variety in their food, it seems 
to me more in accordance with the general inten- 
tions of the Creator, so far as we can discover 
what they are. 

While, therefore, I deny that either milk or 
bread is better, in all cases, for human sustenance, 
than any other articles of food, I must at the same 
time be permitted to regard them as among the 
best, and as deserving more general attention. 
Every infant,- after leaving the breast, should, as 
it seems to me, make bread, in some of its forms, 
a chief article of food. 

This article, so justly and emphatically called 
the staff of life, may be found in almost every 
country. Common sense seems to have dictated 



FOOD. 165 



Bread. Best kind. The worst. Prejudices. 

the propriety of its use ; though fashion has often 
led us to overlook or despise it, Hke air, and fire, 
and water, and nearly every other common but 
indispensable blessing. 

The best kind of bread is made from wheat ; 
the worst from bark, saw-dust, &c. Wood and 
bark afford so little nutriment, that it is only 
in such countries as Norway, Sweden, Lapland, 
Iceland, Greenland and Siberia, that the inhabi- 
tants can be induced to make use of them. Here 
they are often useful ; either because people cannot 
get food which is better, or to blend with their fat 
or oily animal food. For it should never be for- 
gotten, that healthy digestion requires a large pro- 
portion of innutritions matter along with the pure 
nutriment. In order to make bread from w^heat, 
the meal should not be bolted. If it seems to 
contain particles which are too coarse, it may be 
well to pass it through a coarse family sieve ; but 
the best bread I have ever eaten, as well as the 
cleanest and neatest, was not sifted at all. 

I know there is an almost universal prejudice 
against this sort of bread. Some complain that it 
scratches their throats ; others, that it is tasteless ; 
and others still, that it does not agree with them. 
With others, there is another objection, which is, 
th?tt bre^d of this sort has sometimes been called 



166 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

» ■ • I I — 

Causes of bad bread. Mistakes of the bakers. 

dyspepsia bread ; and with others still, that it has 
been called Graham bread. Either of these ap- 
pellations seems sufficient to condemn it. 

Now as to its harshness, this is owing to its 
being made of bad materials, or to its being baked 
too hard, or kept too long. Much of what they 
call dyspepsia bread, in our cities, is evidently 
made by mixing the bran and flour of wheat, after 
they have been once separated ; besides which, 
in not a few cases, the finest of the flour appears 
to be taken away. Now, bread made of such 
materials, thus combined, will always be darker 
colored, as well as harsher, than w^hen made from 
the wheat, simply ground without any bolting, and 
wet up in the usual manner. Such bread is best 
two or three days old. After four days, it be- 
comes dry and somewhat harsh. 

They who complain that such bread is insipid, 
are persons whose appetites have been injured by 
food which is high seasoned ; and who, if they eat 
bread at all, must eat it hot, or soaked in butter. 
No wonder such persons do not like plain bread, 
and say it is tasteless. But it must not be denied 
that bakers often suffer this kind of bread to be 
over-risen, in order to make it sufficiently light and 
porous. This renders it less tasteful, and from 
the saleratus they use, less wholesome. 



FOOD. 167 



Little infants prefer cold bread. Who does not ? 

No child who has been accustomed, from the 
first, to good wheaten bread, made of unbolted 
meal, and not less than one day old, will ever 
prefer any other, until he has been rendered capri- 
dous on this subject, and wishes to change for the 
sake of changing, or until he has been misled by* 
surrounding example. I speak from observation 
when I say that infants, whose habits have not 
been depraved, will not prefer hot bread of any 
kind. " It is too hot, mother," I have heard them 
say, as an apology for refusing a piece of bread ; 
but never, " It is cold," or " It is too old." 

It is the epicurean — it is he with whom it is a 
sufficient objection to any kind of food whatever, 
that he has used it for several successive meals 
or days — that is most ready to complain of good 
bread. He whose habits are correct, and who is 
the more unwilling to change any of his articles of 
diet, the longer he has been in the use of them, 
and who only changes them, or uses variety, from 
principle — he, I say, will never complain of harsh- 
ness or want of taste in good wheat bread ; nor 
will it be an objection of weight with him that 
Mr. Graham has recommended it, or that it has 
either prevented or cured dyspepsia. 

Nor will the epicurean himself complain that 
bread is insipid, after being confined to it for a 



168 THE YOUNG MOTHER^ 

Who enjoy true pleasure in eating. Power of habit. 

month or six weeks. He will then find a sweet- 
ness in it; for which he had long sought in vain, in 
the more delicate and costly viands of a luxurious, 
and expensive, and unchristian modern table. 

It is they only who observe simplicity, and con- 
fine themselves to very plain food, who truly enjoy 
pleasure in eating. The bulk of mankind benumb 
their sense of taste by their high-seasoned, over- 
stimulating food and drink, and by such constant 
variety and strange mixture ; and thus in their . 
eager cry — ^' Who will show us any good ?" they 
actually enjoy less than he who eats plain food, 
and is contented with it. 

Bread of all kinds is greatly improved in white- 
ness and pleasantness by being wet with milk ; 
though even when wet with nothing but water, 
there is a solid and rational sweetness to it, of 
which the despisers of bread, and devourers of 
much flesh and condiments, never dreamed, and 
never will dream, till they reform their habits. 

If children are furnished with good bread, on 
the plan of Mr. Locke, there is no doubt that 
they will relish it most keenly ; that their attach- 
ment to it will strengthen, and that unless we give 
them other food occasionally, from principle, or 
seduce them, by depraving their tastes, they will 
continue it through hfe. Train up a child in the 



FOOD. 169 



A difficulty. How it can be got over. 

way he should go, and when he is old he will not 
depart from it, is a general rule, and has as few 
exceptions, when applied to the diet of a child, 
as when it is applied to his moral tastes and pre- 
ferences. 

With those parents who, though convinced of 
the justness of the views here advanced, have 
already trained their children in the way they 
should not go, but are anxious to retrace their 
steps as far as possible, there will here be a diffi- 
culty. ^'Our children," they will say, ^^ do not, 
at present, relish the kind of bread you speak of; 
and how shall we bring them to do so ? or is the c 
thing indeed possible ? 

The answer to these inquiries is easy. Such 
parents have only to confine their children to the 
kinds of food which they deem proper for them, 
a few weeks or a few months, and they will soon 
relish them. If those who are old enough to be 
convinced can be brought to unite heartily in the 
change, and to endeavor to be pleased with it, 
the work of reformation will be more pleasing, and 
probably more speedy. I have never found any 
difficulty of bringing myself to relish, in a very 
short time, an article of food for which I had no 
rehsh before, and to which I had even a dislike, 
provided I was thoroughly convinced it was best 



170 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

An important rule. Various kinds of good bread. 

for me, and was earnest in the desire of change — 
except sweet oil, to which I was about six months 
in becoming reconciled. 

It is with physical, as with moral habits, in their 
formation. We should fix on what we believe, 
from experience, observation, and divine and hu- 
man testimony, is best for us, and habit will soon 
render it agreeable. It is important, even to 
health, that food should be agreeable ; but as I 
have already said, what we know to be best for us 
will soon become agreeable, if we confine ourselves 
to it ; and to our children also, if we confine them 
to it, in like manner. 

Next to bread made of wheat — when that 
cannot be procured — is a mixture of wheat and 
Indian ; but the proportion of the latter should be 
the smallest. Wheat, rye and Indian, in the pro- 
portion of one third of each, make excellent bread, 
sometimes called third bread. Rye and Indian 
make a tolerable bread. Rye alone is not so 
good. The want, in the latter, of the vegetable 
principle called gluten, makes its general use of 
very questionable propriety. 

Indian meal alone, baked in cakes by the fire, if 
eaten only in small quantities, is a very nutritious, 
and by no means unwholesome bread. But its 
sweetness, and the general fondness which people 



FOOD. 171 



Warm Indian cakes. Coarser bread. Plain pudding. 

who are accustomed to its use have for it, lead 
them to eat it in too large proportions, if they use 
it while it is warm. In these circumstances, .it 
proves itself too active for the stomach and bowels. 
If warm, six ounces is as much as a hearty adult 
ought to eat of it at once ; and children should of 
course take much less. It is less active on the 
bowels, and scarcely less agreeable, as soon as we 
become accustomed to it, if eaten when it is cold ; 
or even baked in loaves, in the oven. 

Potatoes, added to unbolted wheat flour, make 
excellent bread ; and so, as I am informed, does 
rice. Of the latter, however, I have never eaten. 
Oats and barley, and many other grains and sub- 
stances, will make bread, but it is of an inferior 
kind. 

The question may again recur, after this ex- 
tended series of remarks, whether I intend to con- 
fine the young almost exclusively to bread, in one 
or another of its forms. We shall see how this is, 
presently. 

While bread, therefore, should constitute a part, 
at least, and sometimes the whole of a meal, a 
great variety of other articles is not only admissi- 
ble, but desirable. Among these may be men- 
tioned plain puddings. 



172 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Hasty pudding-. Boiled rice. Best pudding in the world. 

One of the most wholesome puddings is made 
of Indian meal, enclosed in a bag and boiled. 
Nearly allied to this is the common hasty pud- 
ding; but the last is less wholesome, because it 
requires less chewing ; and it ought to have been 
observed, before now, that after weaning, any 
food is digested better which has undergone the 
process of thorough mastication. 

Boiled rice, though hardly to be regarded as 
a pudding, is very nutritious, and very easy of 
digestion. I am not without doubts, however, in 
regard to the utility of a large proportion of rice, 
as food. A dinner of it, two or three times a 
week, I believe to be wholesome ; but used too 
frequently, it seems to me not active enough for 
the stomach and bowels ; having in this respect 
precisely a contrary ejSect to that of warm Indian 
cakes. The common notion that rice has a ten- 
dency to make people blind, is entirely unfounded. 
Its worst effect is when eaten without being boiled 
through. In such cases, I have known it to do 
mischief; perhaps because it was swallowed with- 
out much chewing. Some grind it, and use the 
flour; but I cannot recommend it to be used in 
this manner. 

The best pudding in the world is a loaf of bread, 
(What ! — ^you will say — bread again ?) three or 



FOOD. 173 



Eating food too hot. Nothing mixed with puddings. 

four or five days old, boiled, or rather steamed^ 
in milk. All kinds of bread are excellent for 
this purpose, but wheat and Indian are the best. 
They are excellent, even without milk — that is, 
simply steamed. 

Puddings made of the flour of wheat, rye, 
buckwheat, &:c., are less wholesome than those 
which have been already mentioned. And all 
sorts of puddings are less wholesome when eaten 
as hot as our unreasonable fashions require, than 
when their temperature is quite below that of our 
bodies. I would not have them so cold as to chill 
us, for this would be to go to the other, though 
less dangerous extreme ; but they ought to be 
cool. Too much heat is an unnatural stimulus, 
likely to leave more or less debility behind it. In 
addition to this, those who eat hot food are more 
exposed to take cold, in consequence of it. 

With none of these puddings ought we to 
mix any fruits, green or dried — not even raisins. 
Some of the more important properties of nearly 
every kind of berry or fruit are lost by boiling, 
unless we eat the water in which they are boiled, 
and save the vapor which would otherwise es- 
cape. I am not in favor of boiled fruit generally, 
especially if boiled in puddings. 

Puddings, like most other kinds of food — even 



174 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

The use of salt. No butter or suet in puddings. 

bread, may be slightly salted : not that it is indis- 
pensable, but because the balance of human tes- 
timony is in its favor. The argument that we 
evidently need salt because the other animals 
require it, is without much weight. The other 
animals do not generally require or use it.^ The 
cases so often triumphantly mentioned, where ani- 
mals appear to thrive better from the use of it, are 
only exceptions to the general rule ; nor are they 
very numerous, in comparison with the whole 
race of animals. Still I have no objection to its 
moderate use. It may be useful in preventing 
worms ; though there are doubts, even of that. 
In large quantities, it is unquestionably hurtful. 

But neither fruits nor berries — permit me to 
repeat the sentiment — no, nor any such thing as 
cinnamon or spices^ or even sugar or molasses^ in 
any considerable quantity, should go into the com- 
position of any sort of padding. If the puddings 
are not sweet enough without, it is better to add a 
little sugar or molasses on your plate. Nor should 
sauces, or cream, or butter, or suet, be used in or 
upon them ; though of all these substances, cream 
is least injurious. Nutmegs, grated cheese, &c., 



* Some considerable savage nations use no salt, and a 
few have a strong aversion to it. 



FOOD. " 175 



Potatoes. Turnips. Onions. Beets. Beans and peas. 

are unnecessary and hurtful. Cheese should never 
be eaten, in any way. 

There is one thing, however, which may be 
eaten in moderate quantity with all sorts of pud- 
dings, and with bread ; I mean milk. I say eaten 
wiih^ for it is better never to put these substances, 
nor indeed any other, into the milk. The bread, 
pudding, &c. should be eaten by itself, and the 
milk by itself, also. In this way we shall not be 
liable to cheat the teeth out of what is justly their 
due, and then make the deranged stomach and 
general system pay for it. 

Potatoes are a good article of diet — to be used 
once a day — though they are not very nutritious. 
They are best either steamed or roasted in the 
ashes. They are also excellent when boiled. 
Turnips are also good. Onions are not so useful 
as is generally supposed, except for purposes of 
medicine. 

Beets, in small quantity, and carrots and aspara- 
gus, and above all, beans and peas — but not their 
pods — are tolerable food once a day, during most 
of the year, except it be the middle of the winter. 
But neither these, nor potatoes, nor any other 
vegetables, ought to be cooked in any way with 
fat, or fat meat, or butter ; or be mashed after 
they are cooked, or eaten with oil or butter. 



176 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Oily food not to be eaten. On the use of fruit. 

If there be an exception to this general rule — • 
which may seem to be rather sweeping — it should 
be in favor of a little sweet oil on rice, or on bread 
puddings. But the common practice, founded 
upon the apparent belief that we can scarcely 
eat anything until it is well oiled with lard or 
butter, is quite objectionable — nay, it is even dis- 
gusting. No pure stomach would ever prefer 
oily bread, or pudding, or beans, or peas ; and 
most people w^ould abhor the sight of such a 
strange combination, were not habit, in its power 
to change our very nature, almost omnipotent. 

Sec. 9. Remarks on Fruit. 

There is a very great diversity of opinion on 
the subject of fruit. Some maintain that all fruit, 
even in the most ripe and perfect state, is of 
doubtful utihty, especially for children. Others 
say none is hurtful, if ripe and eaten in moderate 
quantity. Some require care in making a proper 
selection ; but here again, in regard to what con- 
stitutes a proper selection, there is a difference of 
opinion. Some consider fruits easy of digestion ; 
others believe they are digested only with very 
great difficulty. 



FOOD. 177 



Fruits in cholera. Whether or not injurious. 

When the cholera prevailed in the large cities 
of the United States, a majority of the physicians 
believed all fruits, even those which were ripe, to 
be injurious in their tendency. But it was insisted 
by the minority — I think very justly — that when- 
ever fruit appeared to be injurious, it was acci- 
dental — that is, the disease, being prepared to 
make its attack just at that time, happened to do 
so immediately after the use of fruit, rather than 
something else, and especially in the season of 
fruits — or on account of excess ; or (which was 
certainly the case in some instances) the quality 
of the fruit was bad. 

At present, the weight of testimony on this 
subject — estimating according to talent, and not 
according to numbers — is in favor of good fruit, 
used with moderation — even in the face of the 
cholera. Dr. Dunglison — one of the last to adopt 
such an opinion — appears to be in its favor. 

On several points, in regard to fruit, I believe 
that among medical men, there is no essential dif- 
ference of opinion. As I always prefer, in con- 
troversies, to see in how many things antagonists 
agree, before proceeding to the points in which 
they differ, I will here endeavor to enumerate 
them. 

12 



178 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Seven rules in regard to the use of fruit. 

1. All unripe fruits, especially if eaten raw and 
uncooked — let the season, or prevalent disease, or 
individual, be who or what it may — are unwhole- 
some. 

2. Excess, in the use of the most wholesome 
fruits, under any circumstances, is also injurious. 

3. Fruits, eaten immediately after a full meal, 
when the stomach is in an improper condition for 
receiving anything more, contribute to overtask 
the digestive powers, and must hence produce 
more or less of injury. 

4. The skins and kel-nels of the larger fruits 
are unwholesome, because indigestible. The skins 
of fruits, if beaten or masticated finely, may appear 
to be digested, because dissolved ; but I have 
already endeavored to show that solution is not 
always digestion. 

5. Fruits of all kinds are most wholesome in 
their own country, and in their own appropriate 
season. 

6. Dried fruits are less wholesome than fresh. 

7. Fruit of all kinds should be withheld from 
infants, until they have teeth. 

Thus far, as I have already said, all agree ; at 
least so far as I know. There are several other 
points on which medical men are generally agreed, 
though not universally. One of these is, that 



FOOD. 179 



Fruits in summer. Their tendency. Fruit before breakfast. 

fruits, if eaten at all, should usually form a part of 
a regular meal. Another is, that it is better not 
to eat them immediately before going to bed. 

There are contradictory opinions among the 
mass of the community, physicians as well as 
others, on the general intention of our summer 
fruits. From the fact that children's diseases 
prevail more at the time of the season when fruits 
are most abundant, many think the fruits are the 
immediate cause of them. Others, and with better 
reason, suppose that they are intended by the 
Author of nature to check or prevent the bowel 
diseases of summer. 

Nothing, certainly, is more unnatural than to 
suppose that at the very season of the year when 
so many other influences combine to awaken a 
tendency to disease in the human system, the 
Creator should place before our eyes an abundance 
of fruits, inviting us by all their cooling and tempt- 
ing properties, only to do us mischief. On the 
contrary, it seems to me much more probable that 
many of them were designed for our moderate use. 
In what quantity, under what circumstances, and 
which are best, it is left to human experience to 
determine. 

Some say that fruit should never be eaten in 
the morning, before breakfast. Now everything I 



180 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Why the morning' is the best time for using- fruit. 

know of the human constitution, together with 
what I have learned from experience and observa- 
tion, has been for years leading me to the contrary 
opinion. Indeed, I am most fully convinced, that 
of all periods for eating fruit, whether we use it 
alone, or make it a part of our regular meals, the 
morning, soon after we rise, is the most favorable.* 
My reasons are as follows : 

1. The rest and sleep of the preceding night 
has restored our general vigor, and consequently 
has invigorated the stomach, so that digestion will 
be more easily and perfectly accomplished. 

2. We have been, at our rising, so long without 
food on our stomachs, that they are not likely to 
be oppressed by a moderate quantity of good, ripe, 
wholesome fruit. In the course of our waking 
hours, meals follow each other in such quick suc- 
cession, and there is so much variety, even at the 
plainest tables, to tempt us to excess, that there is 
more danger of injury from the addition of fruit, 
than at our first rising. 



* I ought to remark, that as the morning is the best 
time for eating good fruit, so it is the very worst time 
for eating it if not good ; and as a large proportion of 
that which is eaten is unripe, or otherwise bad, this may 
account for the general prejudice against eating it at 
this period. 



FOOD. 181 



Consideration of particular fruits. The apple. 



3. I have never known any one to receive 
injury from the use of fruit in this way, provided 
no other circumstance in relation to quahty, quan- 
tity, &c. had been disregarded. In my own case, 
the practice has, on the contrary, seemed bene- 
ficial. 

4. There is one reason in favor of this practice 
which perhaps would have less weight, if people 
rose as early in the morning as they ought ; or, in 
the language of Dr. Franklin to the inhabitants of 
Paris, if they knew that the sun gives light as 
soon as he rises. I allude to the demand which I 
conceive that the stomach makes for something, 
after so long fasting, and the pernicious custom of 
late breakfasts. I am persuaded that it is advisa- 
ble to eat something nearly as soon as we rise, be 
it never so early ; and if we can get nothing else 
for breakfast, and have not accustomed ourselves 
to relish a piece of good bread, or some other 
simple thing, which requires no labor of prepara- 
tion, I think it perfectly proper to eat a small 
quantity of fruit. 

We come now to the particular consideration of 
some of those fruits which universal experience 
has shown to be the most salutary. 

Of all these, none is more wholesome than the 
apple. There is, indeed, a great diversity in the 



182 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Early and late fruits compared. Artificial ripening. 

» , ■■■ 

quality even of this single article. Sweet apples 
are the most nutritious ; but perhaps those which 
are gently acid, and at the same time mealy, are 
rather more cooling, and when eaten raw, and in 
the heat of summer, not less wholesome. 

Apples which come to maturity very early in 
the season appear, as a general rule, to be less 
rich, and even less perfect, than those which ripen 
later. In view of this fact, some WTiters have 
endeavored to dissuade us from their use ; and 
among others, Mr. Locke. We may judge a 
little what his opinions were, from his concluding 
remarks on the subject. " I never knew apples 
hurt anybody," says he, " after October." 

But although neither apples nor any other fruits 
which ripen uncommonly early are quite so good 
as those which come in a little later, yet I do not 
think they are to be wholly rejected, unless they 
have been raised in hot houses. Fruits, and 
indeed vegetables in general, whose maturity is 
hastened by artificial processes, must be less whole- 
some than when brought to perfection in nature's 
own appropriate time and manner. I ought to 
say, however, very distinctly, that of the fruits of 
any particular tree, those which first ripen are 
always the worst ; for they are usually wormy, 
or otherwise defective. 



FOOD. 183 



Bad condition of some fruits. Are fruits easy of digestion ? 



Most of the fruit, as well as other vegetables, 
brought to our city markets in this country, is 
utterly unfit to be eaten. Sometimes it is imma- 
ture ; sometimes it has a hot house maturity ; 
sometimes it has been picked so long that it has 
begun to decay. Many fruits — berries especially 
— are in perfection for a very short period only. 
Mulberries for example — one kind especially — 
are not in perfection long enough to carry to the 
market house, though the distance were never so 
small. Luckily, however, very few mulberries are 
eaten. But the raspberry and strawberry, if per- 
fect when gathered, have usually begun to decay 
before they are purchased. That this appears to 
be rather unfrequent, is because they are gathered 
before they are ripe. 

Dr. Dewees regards most fruits as difficult of 
digestion. I do not think they are so, if perfect 
and ripe. The experiments of Dr. Beaumont, so 
far as they prove any general principle, show 
conclusively that mellow sweet apples are more 
quickly digested than any kind of vegetable food 
whatever, except rice and sago. But even admit- 
ting they were slow of digestion, I do not think — 
as I have already shown in another place — that 
they ought on that account to be excluded. Be- 
sides, my opinion differs from that of Dr. D. in 



184 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Value of the apple. Swallowing" stones and seeds of fruits. 

regard to the strength of the digestive powers of 
children. After teething, they seem to me to be 
able to digest any substances which adults can; 
and with as little difficulty. 

But to return : — No fruit is in perfection longelr 
than the apple. Besides, no fruit appears to be 
less injured in its nature and properties by picking 
it a little before it is ripe, and preserving it during 
the winter. It is on this account, more perhaps 
than any other, that I value it more highly than 
all other fruits united. 

Apples may be used either raw or cooked. In 
either case, the skins and seeds should be avoided, 
as has been before suggested. I am not ignorant 
that WiLLiCH, in his "Lectures on Diet and 
Regimen '' — an excellent work, in the main — says 
that the seeds ought to be eaten ; but I believe few 
physiologists would comply with his injunction, 
especially when it is considered that he recom- 
mends, in the same connection, that we swallow 
the stones of cherries and plums. Strange how 
far our theories will sometimes carry us ! 

The apple is excellent when roasted or baked, 
especially the sweet apple. It is very common, 
in some places, to eat baked sweet apples with 
milk ; and the practice is a good one. Indeed, 
baked apples might be advantageously made a 



FOOD. 185 

An anecdote. Cutting down orchards unnecessary. 

part of at least one of our meals every day. 
There is a miserly farmer — a single gentleman — 
in the western part of the state of Massachusetts, 
who has lived on nothing but apples for his food, 
and water for his drink, about forty years. And 
yet he is said to enjoy the most perfect health. I 
do not propose this as an example worthy of imi- 
tation ; but it shows that apples may be made 
to subserve an important purpose in diet. And 
though I have more than once expressed an opinion 
highly unfavorable to the exclusive use of any one 
article of diet, yet if I were to confine myself 
to any one thing, I know of nothing except bread 
that I should prefer to good apples. Still, how- 
ever, I prefer a variety — sweet, sour, early, late, 
&;c.; and I should use them raw, roasted, baked, 
made into sauce with new or unfermented cider, 
and boiled. Good apples, eaten raw, with bread, 
form not only a very wholesome, but to an unper- 
verted appetite, a most delicious dinner. 

Much has been said about cutting down or- 
chards ; but the whole seems to me idle ; for if the 
fruit is of a good quality, it may be used as food, 
either for man or beast. And if not good, the 
trees ought either to be destroyed or replaced 
by those that will produce fruit which is better. 



186 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Pears. Skins of pears and apples. Peaches. 

even if the object were to make it into cider. 
I have said that apples may be used both by man 
and beast. It is well known that most domestic 
animals thrive well on good apples, especially 
sweet ones. Very tolerable molasses is also some- 
times made from sweet apples. 

Nearly everything which has been said above 
in regard to apples, will apply to pears. The 
best varieties of this excellent fruit are quite as 
nutritious and wholesome as the apple ; and as 
much improved for the table by baking. I be- 
lieve, however, that no cheap process has yet 
been devised for keeping them as long in the 
winter. They may be preserved in the form of 
sauce, prepared in the same way with common 
apple sauce. The skins of many kinds of pears 
are less injurious than those of apples ; but even 
the skins of pears need not be eaten. 

Some kinds of peaches are tolerably whole- 
some ; but the stringy character of their pulp 
appears to me to render them less so than apples 
and pears ; though I am not confident on this 
point. But If used at all, they should be used 
in less quantity at one time. Tempting as their 
flavor is, I seldom eat them, when I can get apples 
and pears ; holding myself in duty bound to use 
the hest^ even of the fruits. 



FOOD. 187 

Mr. Locke's opinion. Melons — peaches — plums. 

" Fruit," says Mr. Locke, " makes one of the 
most difficult chapters in the government of health, 
especially that of children. Our first parents ven- 
tured Paradise for it; and it is no wonder our 
children cannot stand the temptation, though it cost 
them their health. The regulation of this cannot 
come under any one general rule ; for I am by no 
means of their mind who would keep children 
wholly from fruit, as a thing totally unwholesome 
for them, by which strict way they make them 
but the more ravenous after it, to eat good or bad, 
ripe or unripe, all that they can get, whenever 
they come at it. 

" Melons, peaches, most sorts of plums, and all 
sorts of grapes, in England, I think children 
should be wholly kept from, as having a very 
tempting taste, in a very unwholesome juice, so 
that, if it were possible, they should never so 
much as see them, or know that there was any 
such thing. But strawberries, cherries, gooseber- 
ries and currants, when thoroughly ripe, I think 
may be pretty safely allowed them.'^ 

Excellent as these remarks are, in general, I da 
not like his entire interdiction of the use of mel- 
ons, peaches, plums and grapes, even in England. 
Peaches, to be sure, as they come at a season 
when apples or pears, or both of them — which 



%^ 



188 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Eating all sorts of fruits. A common mistake. 

are more wholesome than peaches — are abundant, 
may be better omitted, delicious as they are to 
the taste ; and I do not think very highly of plums. 
But melons, in very moderate quantity, and grapes, 
if we eat nothing but the ripe pulp, rejecting both 
the husk and the interior hard part, including the 
seeds, are, I think, useful and wholesome. On 
the other hand, I should never place cherries and 
gooseberries in the same list with strawberries ; for 
the latter are, if I may use the expression, infi^ 
nitely the most wholesome. 

Many seem to think that not to eat all sorts of 
fruits is to despise, or at least to treat with neglect 
the gifts of God, intended for our reception ; by 
which they mean, if they mean anything, that the 
use of all sorts of fruits is already found out, even 
in the present comparative infancy of the world. 
Now I do not suppose that God has made any- 
thing in vain — absolutely so- — though I do not 
think we have found out the true uses of half the 
things which he has made and given us. And 
among those things of whose use we are yet igno- 
rant, are some of the fruits. I do not believe it 
follows, necessarily, that because fruits are created, 
we are obliged to use them all. 

Besides this, i/* a rule, it is a rule which nobody 
follows. Every one uses more of some sorts, and 



FOOD. 189 



Mixing other substances with fruits. Why improper. 

fewer of others ; and a large proportion of the 
community entirely reject some kinds. Now if 
the statement commonly made, that all fruits are 
the gifts of God, and ought therefore to be used 
by all persons, is correct, those who make the 
statement ought to conform to it ^s a rule of their 
lives, and to eat all kinds of fruit which the 
season and country affords ; and not only eat all 
kinds, but see that the whole of every kind is 
consumed ; since to waste any portion is to slight 
the good gifts of God. 

The result then is, that we cannot obey such a 
rule ; but are driven back to the mode which 
common sense dictates, w^hich is, to make a selec- 
tion, using some and rejecting others. And the 
value of studying the nature of these fruits, by 
examining the experience of mankind in regard 
to them, consists in the aid thus afforded us in 
making our selection wisely. 

There is one very common error in the use of 
the smaller summer fruits, such as strawberries, 
whortleberries, currants, &c., which is, that of 
mixing cream, wine, spices, sugar, &lc, with 
them. We are thus tempted to eat too great a 
quantity at once. Besides — which is a worse evil 
— ^we change the proportions of the saccharine 
parts, and thus do all in our power, by increasing 



190 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

What is here meant by confectionary. Is it poisonous ? 

a similarity in all fruits, to destroy that agreeable 
variety which God has established, and which is 
probably salutary. 

Sec. 10. Confectionary. 

By confectionary we here mean the substances 
usually sold at those shops in our cities distin- 
guished by the general name of confectionaries, 
and which consist either wholly of sugar, or of 
sugar and some other substances combined. 

As to the use of a moderate quantity of pure 
sugar at our meals, whether it is procured at a 
confectioner's shop or elsewhere, I do not know 
that there is any strong objection to it ; though I 
believe that it cannot be regarded as indispensable 
to health ; for were that the fact, it seems to me 
to imply something short of infinite wisdom in the 
creation of articles destined for our sustenance. 
But I have spoken on this subject elsewhere. 

A part, however, of the contents of the con- 
fectionary shop are actually poisonous. I refer 
to those things which are either frosted, as it is 
called, or colored. The substances applied to the 
sugar for this purpose are usually some mineral or 
vegetable poison ; although the fact of its being a 
poison may not always be known to the manufac- 



FOOD. 191 



Case in New York. Sweetmeats. Explanation. 

turer. The most unhappy consequences have 
occasionally followed the use of confectionary, 
when poisoned in this nGanner. A family of four 
persons, in New York, were made sick in this 
way in March of the last year, and some of them 
came very near losing their lives. The "frosting" 
which caused the mischief was pronounced by 
eminent chemists to be one fifth rank poison.^ 
The coloring substances used are sometimes poi- 
sonous, as well as -the frosting. 

Some of the articles sold at these shops consist 
of sugar mixed with paste. Others are called 
sweetmeats ; that is, fruits, or rinds of fruits, pre- 
served in sugar. All these substances, I believe, 
without exception, are injurious. 

The GREAT evils of confectionary yet remain to 
be mentioned. These are of three kinds, physi- 
cal, MENTAL and MORAL. . 



* It is to be remembered that those who eat confec- 
tionary so slightly poisoned that it does not make them 
sick at once, may nevertheless be as much injured in 
their constitutions as they who are poisoned outright. 
In the latter case, the poison is in part thrown out of the 
body ; in the former, it remains in it much longer, — and 
therefore more surely, though more slowly, accom- 
plishes the work of destruction. 



192 



THE YOUNG MOTHER, 



Physical evils of confectionary. 



Intellectual evils. 



Some of the physical evils have, it is true, just 
been mentioned ; but there is another evil of still 
greater magnitude. Young people who eat con- 
fectionary, commonly eat it between meals. This 
produces mischief in two ways. First, it keeps 
the stomach at work when it ought to rest ; for 
this, like every other muscular organ, requires its 
seasons of repose. Secondly, it destroys gradu- 
ally the appetite ; so that when the regular meal 
arrives, the accustomed keenness of appetite does 
not come with it. And the consequence is, not 
so much that we do not eat enough, as that we 
are fastidious, and eat a little of this, then a little 
of that ; and usually select the worst things. We 
are not hungry enough to make a meal of a single 
article of plain food. And this evil goes on in- 
creasinof, as lono- as we have access to the confec- 
tionary shop. These statements describe the case 
of thousands of pupils, of both sexes, at our 
schools and seminaries. 

The intellectual evil resulting from the use of 
confectionary consists in the fondness for excite- 
ment which is produced. You will seldom find a 
person who depends daily and almost hourly Qn 
some excitement to his appetite and stomach, and 
is not satisfied with plain food, who will content 



FOOD. 193 



Moral tendency of confectionary. 



himself to study without unnatural excitements of 
the mind. Duty to himself or others will not 
move him. He must have before him the hope 
of reward, or the fear of punishment. He must 
be moved by emulation or ambition, or some other 
questionable or wicked motive or passion. 

But the moral results, to the young, of using 
confectionary, are still more dreadful. I do not 
here refer to the danger of meeting with bad com- 
pany at the shops themselves, or of going from 
these places of pollution directly to the grogshop, 
the gambling house or the brothel ; though there 
is dano;er enough, even here. But I allude to the 
tendency which a habit of not resting satisfied 
with plain food, but of depending on exciting 
things has, to make us dissatisfied with plain moral 
enjoyments — the society of friends, and the quiet 
discharge of our duty to God and our neighbor. 
Just in proportion as we gratify our propensity 
for excitement at the confectioner's shop, just in 
the same proportion do we expose ourselves to 
the danger of yielding to temptation, should other 
gratifications present themselves. The young of 
both sexes who are in the use of confectionary, 
are on the high road to gluttony, drunkenness, 
or debauchery; perhaps to 'all three. I do not 
say they will certainly arrive there, for circum- 
13 



194 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Appeal to mothers and teachers. Pastry.- 

Stances not quite miraculous may pluck them as 
^^ brands from the burning;" but I do not hesitate 
to say that such is the inevitable tendency ; and 
I call on every mother and teacher who reads 
this section, to beware of confectionaries, and 
see, if possible, that the young never set foot 
in them. They are a road through which thou- 
sands pass to the chamber of death — death to 
the immortal spirit, as well as to the body, its 
vehicle. 

More might be added — for this is an important 
subject — ^but I trust I have said enough. Those 
who have read and believe what I have written, 
if they remain wholly unaffected and unmoved, 
would not be roused to effort were anything to be 
added. 

Sec. 11. Pastry, 

Dr. Paris, a distinguished British writer on diet, 
says that all pastry is '^ an abomination.'' And 
yet, go where we will, we find it often on the 
table. Hardly any one, whether old or young, 
attempts to do without it. 

There are indeed some, who will not eat pie- 
crust, or high seasoned cakes formed of paste ; 
but yet will not hesitate to eat hot bread, or rolls. 



FOOD. 195 



Hot bread, with butter. Eruptions on the face. 

or biscuits, made of wheat flour, bolted. Now 
what is this but paste ? If we could see the con- 
tents of the stomach, an hour after the mass is 
swallowed, we should find it to be paste, and 
mere paste. 

And yet the evil is increasing everywhere. So 
generally is this true, that a person who refuses to 
eat hot bread, or cake, or biscuit, is deemed sin- 
p-ular. He who ventures to lift his voice ao;ainst 
it is deemed an ascetic or a visionary. But such 
a voice must be raised, and heard, too, whether its 
monitions are or are not regarded. 

Pastry is less objectionable, however, when used 
in the form of hot bread, &lc., than when butter or 
fat is mixed with it. Then it becomes one of the 
most indigestible substances in the world. Be- 
sides, it not only tries the patience of the stomach, 
but according to Willich, whose authority ranks 
high, it tends to produce diseases of the skin, es- 
pecially a disease which he calls '^ copper in the 
face," and which he pronounces incurable. 

I know not whether the eruptions so common 
on the faces of young people in this country, and 
especially of young men, are in every instance 
either produced or aggravated by pastry ; but I 
am very sure of one thing, viz., that those who 
are in the use of pastry, and have eruptions of the 



196 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Example of mothers. Of using raw vegetables. 

skin of any kind, will not be apt to get well, as 
long as they continue the use of this objectionable 
substance. 

Physicians are often consulted about eruptions 
on the face. When they assign the real cause, 
which is undoubtedly connected with the improper 
gratification of some of the appetites, in one way 
or another, it, is seldom that the patient has self- 
command enough to follow his prespription of 
temperance or abstinence. Pvlothers, it is yours 
to prevent this mischief; — first, by establishing 
correct physical habits; secondly, by teaching 
your children the great duty of self-denial — not 
only by precept, but by your own good example. 

Sec. 12. Crude or Raw Substances. 

I have reserved this section for remarks on 
certain articles used at our fashionable modem 
tables, of which I could not well find it convenient 
to speak elsewhere. And first of ballads, and 
HERBS used in cooking ; such as asparagus, arti- 
chokes, spinage, plaintain, cabbage, dock, lettuce, 
watercresses, chives, &lc. 

Several of these substances are often eaten raw, 
in which state they are exceedingly indigestible, 
at the best; and they are rendered still more 



rooD. 197 



Nuts in general. , Boiled chesnuts. Spices. 

beyond the reach of the powers of the stomach, 
by the oil or vmegar which is added to them. 
Boiled, they are more tolerable ; especially aspara- 
gus. In the midst, however, of such an abundance 
of excellent food as this country affords, it is most 
surprising that any body should ever take it into 
their heads to eat such crude substances ; and 
above all, that they should fill children's stomachs 
with them. What child, with an unperverted 
appetite, would not prefer a good ripe apple, or 
peach, or pear, to the most approved raw sal« 
lads ? — and a good baked one to the best boiled 
asparagus ? 

Nuts, in general, are probably made for other 
animals rather than man ; though of this we can- 
not in the present infancy of human knowledge be 
quite certain. But if any of them Were intended 
by the Creator for man, it is the chesnut ; and 
this should be boiled. Boiled chesnuts are used 
as food in many parts of southern Europe, and to 
a very considerable extent. 

Spices, as they are usually called, such as 
nutmeg, mace, pepper, pimento, cubebs, carda- 
moms, juniper berries, ginger, calamus, cloves, 
cinnamon, caraway, coriander, fennel, parsley, dill, 
sage, marjoram, thyme, pennyroyal, lavender, hys- 
sop, peppermint, &;c. are unfit for the human 



198 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

»■ . _____ __ ■ 

Other objectionable articles. May be useful as medicines. 

Stomach — above all in infancy — except as medi- 
cines. 

There are several other vegetables equally ob- 
jectionable with the last, though they cannot be 
classed under the same head. Such are mustard, 
horseradish, raw onions, garlic, cucumbers, and 
pickles. No appetite which has not been accus- 
tomed to these substances in early infancy will 
ever require them. Not that they may not some- 
times be useful, in enabling the stomach — at every 
age — to get rid of certain substances with which it 
has been improperly or unreasonably loaded ; this 
is undoubtedly the fact ; — ardent spirits would do 
the same. And it is with a view to some such 
effect, generally, that medical writers have spoken 
in their favor. Some of them stimulate the stom- 
ach to get rid of a load of green fruit ; others, of 
a load of fat or salt food ; others again, of too 
large a quantity of food which is naturally whole- 
some. 

But in all these cases, they should be consid- 
ered not as food, but as medicine ; and we ought 
to call them by their right name. And if we 
withhold the cause of the disease, there will be no 
need of the medicine. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



DRINKS, 



Little drink needed. Few adults drink to quench thirst. 

Children need little if any drink, so long 
as their food is nothing but milk ; nor indeed for 
some time afterward, unless they are indulged in 
the use of animal food. Adults, even, very sel- 
dom drink merely to quench natural thirst. In 
the summer, people usually drink either to cool 
themselves, or to gratify a thirst which is wholly 
artificial. Tea, coffee, beer, cider, and most other 
common drinks, when not used for the sake of 
their coolness, are drank, both in winter and sum- 
mer, for this purpose. 

That this is the fact, we have the most abundant 
and unequivocal evidence. I know that much is 
said of the demand which a profuse perspiration 
creates among hard laborers in the summer. Such 
a sudden abstraction of a large amount of fluid, 
requires, it is said, a proportional supply, or life 
would soon become extinct. Yet there are many 
old men who have sweat profusely at their labor 
all their days, and yet have drank nothing at all, 



200 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Water the only necessary drink. Opinion of Dr. Oliver. 

except their tea, morning and evening ; and per- 
haps have eaten, for one or two of their meals 
daily, in summer, a bowl of bread and milk. And 
some of them are among the most remarkable in- 
stances of longevity w^hich the country affords. 

How the system acquires a sufBcient supply of 
moisture to keep up good health, in these cases, I 
do not pretend to determine ; perhaps it is through 
the medium of the lungs. But at any rate, it can 
obtain it without our drinking for that sole pur- 
pose, to the great danger of exciting liver com- 
plaints, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, colds, rheumatisms 
and fevers. 

But if adults who perspire freely do not require 
much drink, children certainly do not; and above 
all, young children. And if they do require any- 
thing, it is only simple water. The following 
remarks of Dr. Oliver, of Hanover, N. H., are 
extracted from Dr. Mussey's late Prize Essay on 
Ardent Spirits: 

" Who has not observed the extreme satisfaction 
which children derive from quenching their thirst 
with pure water ? And who that has perverted 
his appetite for drink, by stimulating his palate with 
bitter beer, sour cider, rum and water, and other 
beverages of human invention, but would be a 
gainer, even on the score of mere animal gratifica* 



BRINKS. 201 



Children drink to quench thirst. Opinion of Dr. Dewees. 

tion, without any reference to health, if he could 
bring back his vitiated taste to the simple relish of 
nature ? 

" Children drink because they are dry. Grown 
people drink, whether dry or not, because they 
have discovered a way of making drink pleasant. 
Children drink w^ater because this is a beverage of 
nature's own brewing, which she has made for the 
purpose of quenching a natural thirst. Grown 
people drink anything but water, because this 
fluid is intended to quench only a natural thirst, 
and natural thirst is a thing which they seldom 
feel." 

There is a great deal of truth, as well as of 
sound philosophy, in these two paragraphs ; and 
little less of truth in the following briefer para- 
graph from Dr. Dewees : 

'' We have witnessed very often, with sorrow, 
parents giving to their young children wine, or 
other stimulating liquors. Nature never intended 
anything stronger than water to be the drink for 
children. This they enjoy greatly; and much 
advantage is occasionally experienced from its use, 
especially after they have commenced the use of 
animal food." 

Two things are to be observed in the last 
remarks, which are, that children demand drink 



202 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Only one drink in the world. Proper object of all drink. 

of any kinri but seldom, and that even this occa- 
sional demand is often the special result of the use 
of animal food. Here comes out an important 
secret. It is the use of animal food, to a very 
great degree, in adults and children both, that cre- 
ates so much of that unnatural thirst which prevails 
in the community. When we shall come to lay 
aside animal food, in childhood, youth, manhood 
and age, much that is now called thirst will be 
banished ; and much of the intemperance and other 
kinds of sensuality which follow in its train. 

It has been sometimes said that there is but one 
kind of drink in the world ; and that is water. 
This is strictly, or rather physiologically true. 
For, though many mixtures are called drinks, it is 
only the water which they contain that answers 
any of the legitimate purposes for which drink was 
intended by the Creator. 

The object of drink, besides qu.enching our 
thirst, or rather while it quenches it, is not to be 
digested like food — but to pass directly from the 
stomach into the blood vessels, and dilute and 
temper the blood, rendering it more fit to answer 
the great purpose of sustaining life and health. 
Now there is nothing that can do this but water. 
Alcohol cannot do it, nor can turpentine, oil, 
quicksilver, melted lead, or any other liquid. 



DRINKS. 203 



Tea, coffee, &c. Milk and water. Molasses and water. 

Tea, coffee) chocolate, small beer, soda water, 
lemonade, &:;c., which are nearly all water, quench 
the thirst very well, it is true ; but not quite so 
well as water alone would. The narcotic principle 
of the first two, the alcoholic principle of the fourth, 
and the mucilage, nutriment, acid, and alkali of the 
rest, are in the way; for thirst would be quenched 
still better without them, even when it is of an 
unnatural kind. 

Indeed, the same or similar remarks may be 
made in regard to all other mixtures which are 
usually proposed as drinks. Even milk and water, 
molasses and water, &c., in favor of which so much 
is said, are objectionable, as mere drinks. Not 
that they contain anything poisonous, but they 
evidently contain nutriment ; and even this, except 
as a part or the whole of a regular meal, does 
harm ; for it sets the stomach at work when it 
needs repose. Mere drink, as I have already said, 
is never digested. 

But* if the drinks above mentioned, and even milk 
and water, are objectionable, what shall we say of 
dder, wine and ardent spirits ? — substances which 
contain, the latter one half, and the two former 
from one twentieth to one fourth alcohol. Surely 
nobody will deny that these substances ought, at 
all events, to be banished from the nursery. And 



204 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

*■« — — — - 

Artificial thirst. Natural tastes of children. 

yet we occasionally find them there, not only for 
the use of the mother, to the ruin of the child, 
indirectly — but also, in some of their smoother 
forms, for the use of the child itself. 

I would not lay too much stress on food and 
drink ; for, as I have already observed, more than 
once, the causes of infantile ill health and mortal- 
ity are numerous. Still I must insist that, of all 
the sources of disease, these are the most prolific. 
Much is done towards ruining the health of chil- 
dren by the improper food and drink of the mother. 
But when, in addition to all this, the children them- 
selves are early fed with animal food, and with 
stimulating drinks — punch, coffee, tea, &lc, — and 
an artificial thirst is early excited and rendered 
habitual, their destruction^ for time and eternity, is 
almost inevitable. 

Very few children relish any drink but water, or 
sweetened water, at first ; and where they do, it is 
probably hereditary. I have been struck with their 
tastes and preferences ; nor less with the folly of 
those around them, in endeavoring to change them, 
by requiring them — almost always against their 
will — to sip a little cofiee, or a little tea, or a little 
lemonade ; or, it may be, a little toddy. Such 
children may escape the death of the drunkard or 



DRINKS. 205 



Hot drinks. Cold ones. Avoid extremes. 

the debauchee ; but if they do, it will not be 
through the instrumentahty of the parents. 

I am very much opposed to giving children 
hot drinks of any kind. If they are to drink 
substances which are injurious, as tea or coffee, 
let them be cool. I do not say cold^ for that 
would be going to the other extreme. But no 
drink, in any ordinary case, should be above the 
heat of our bodies ; that is, about 98 degrees of 
Fahrenheit's thermometer. Yet the precautions 
of this paragraph will be almost unnecessary, if 
children are confined— as they ought to be, and 
would be, did w^e not go out of our way to teach 
them otherwise — to water, as their only drink. 
Cold water is almost always preferred. Not one 
child in a thousand would ever prefer it hot, until 
his taste had been perverted. No writer has 
inveighed more against hot drinks of every kind, 
than the late William Cobbett — and, as I think, 
with more justice. 

But, in avoiding one rock, we must not, as has 
already been intimated, make shipwreck on another. 
Hot drinks, though they injure the powers of the 
stomach, and by that means, and through that 
medium, are one principal cause of the almost 
universal early decay of teeth, are yet less inju- 
rious, or at least less dangerous, immediately, than 



206 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Drinking when hot. Produces fevers and other diseases. 

cold ones. Mr. Locke, in speaking of the sports 
of children, in the open air, has the following 
quaint, but judicious remarks : 

'' Playing in the open air has but this one danger 
in it, that I know, and that is, that when he is hot 
with running up and down, he should sit or lie 
down on the cold or moist earth. This, I grant, 
and drinking cold drink, when tbey are hot with 
labor or exercise, brings more people to the grave, 
or to the brink of it, by fevers and other diseases, 
than anything I know. These mischiefs are easily 
enough prevented, when he is little, being then 
seldom out of sight. And if, during his childhood, 
he be constantly and rigorously kept from sitting 
on the ground, or drinking any cold liquor, while 
he is hot, the custom of forbearing, grown into 
hahit^ will help much to preserve him, when he is 
no longer under his maid's or tutor's eye. 

^' More fevers and surfeits are got by people's 
drinking when they are hot, than by any one thing 
I know. If he (the child) be very hot, he should 
by no means drink ; at least a good piece of bread 
first to be eaten, will gain time to warm his drink 
blood hot, which then he may drink safely. If 
he be very dry, it will go down so warmed, and 
quench his thirst better ; and if he will not drink 
it so warmed, abstaining will not hurt him. Be- 



DRINKS. 207 



Tendency of little indulgences. Opinion of Locke. 

sides, this will teach him to forbear, which is a 
habit of the greatest use for health of mind and 
body too.'^ 

The last remarks are full of wisdom. Mothers 
may depend upon it, that every indulgence to 
which they accustom their children, paves the way 
for habitual indulgence ; and has a tendency to 
lead, indirectly, to indulgence in other matters; 
and on the contrary, every self-denial which they 
can lead children to exercise, voluntarily — even in 
these every-day matters of food, drink, exercise, 
&c. — is so much gained in the great work of self- 
denial, and the resisting of temptation in matters 
of higher importance. But I must not moralize 
too long ; having dwelt on the same point under 
the head Confectionary. I proceed, therefore, to 
make a few more extracts from Mr. Locke : 

" Not being permitted to drink without eating, 
will prevent the custom of having the cup often at 
his nose — a dangerous beginning." 

^' Men often bring habitual hunger and thirst on 
themselves by custom." 

^^ You may, if you please, bring any one to be 
thirsty every hour." 

"I once lived in a house, where, to appease a 
fro ward child, they gave him drinJc as often as he 
cried; so that he was constantly bibbing. And 



208 THE YOUNG MOTHER, 

Drink as little as possible. Drinking- at school. 

though he could not speak, yet he drank more in 
twenty-four hours than I did." 

" It is convenient, for health and sobriety, to 
drink no more than natural thirst requires ; and he 
that eats not salt meats, nor drinks strong drink, 
will seldom thirst between meals." 

Great mischief is often done to their health by 
children at school ; and one instance of this is, in 
getting violently heated with exercise, and then 
pouring down large quantities of cold water to cool 
themselves. I once made it a habitual rule for 
pupils, that they must drink water, if they drank 
it at all, on leaving their seats to go to their plays, 
but not afterwards : and I was so situated that I 
could prevent the law from being broken ; as there 
was no spring or well to which they could have 
access, privately. And though they thought the 
rule rather severe, I have no doubt it saved them 
from much injury, and perhaps sometimes from 
sickness. 



CHAPTER IX. 



GIVING MEDICINE. 



Prevention of disease easier than cure. 



So much error prevails in regard to the medical 
management of the young, that a volume might 
be written without exhausting the subject.* My 
present limits and plan allow of only a few re- 
marks, and those must be general. 

That " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound 
of cure," has so long ago become a proverb, that 
it seems almost idle to repeat the sentiment. And 
yet it is to be feared that very few receive it as a 
practical truth, in the management of children. 
Now nothing is more certain, than that it is easier, 
as well as more humane, to prevent diseases than 
to cure them. 

I have elsewhere mentioned the opinion of a 
very eminent physician, that nine in ten of chil- 
dren's diseases may be imputed to error with re- 
gard to the quantity or the quality of their food. 

* Such a volume is in preparation. It is intended as 
a companion to the present. 

14 



210 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

General directions. How to detect diseases early. 

For myself, I am by no means certain that nine 
out of ten is the exact proportion, though I think 
the number is, at all events, very large. Few 
children, or even grown persons, are seized with 
disease suddenly. Their progress towards it is 
always gradual, and sometimes imperceptible. To 
a physician of any tolerable degree of skill, how- 
ever, there is no difficulty in observing and point- 
ing out the first steps tov/ards illness, in those 
whose habits of life are well known to him, and of 
foretelling the consequence. 

But since parents and nurses are not so well 
quahfied as physicians to make these observations, 
I will endeavor to point out a few certain signs 
and symptoms by which they may know a child's 
health to be dechning, even before he appears 
to be sick. — For if these are neglected, the evil 
increases, goes on from bad to worse, and more 
violent and apparent complaints will follow, and 
perhaps end in incurable diseases, which a timely 
remedy, or a slight change in the diet and manner 
of life, w^ould have infalhbly prevented. 

"The first tendency to disease," says Dr. Cado- 
gan, "may be observed in a child's breath. It is 
not enough that the breath be not offensive; it 
should be sweet and fragrant, like a nosegay of 
fresh flowers, or a pail of new milk from a young 



GIVING MEDICINE. 211 

The breath of animals. Foul breath of man. Causes. 

COW that feeds upon the sweetest grass of the 
spring ; and this as well at first waking in the 
morning, as all day long." * 

There is much of truth in these remarks ; but if 
they are wholly true, then very few children are 
perfectly healthy. For no child that eats much 
animal food of any sort, or what amounts to nearly 
the same thing, much butter or gravy, will long 
retain the fragrant breath here alluded to. Who 
has not observed the difference, in this respect, 
between animals in general which feed on flesh, 
and those which feed on grass ? And whether it 
is the character of their respective food that makes 
the difference or not, it is also true that there is 
nearly as much difference of breath between men 
who use animal food and those who do not, as 
between other animals. The breath of some of 
our enormous meat eaters would almost remind 
one of a slaughter house. 

Nor is it the quality of food alone, that will 
induce a foul breath, either in adults or infants. 
He who swallows such enormous quantities, even 
of plain food, as by overloading and fatiguing the 
stomach, tend gradually to debilitate it, will pro- 
duce the same effect. The enormous feeders of 

* Buchan's "Advice to Mothers," pages 337, 338, 



212 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

When the breath indicates disease. Use of a physician. 

this full feeding country, whether they are young 
of old, whether they inhabit the mountain or the 
vale, and whether they feed on animal food or not, 
have generally a bad breath ; and if they seldom 
offend, it is because few feed otherwise. And it 
is not too much — in my own opinion — to say of 
this whole class of gormandizers, no less than of 
the flesh eaters, that they have laid for themselves 
the foundation of future diseases. 

One general rule may here be distinctly laid 
down. As a child's breath becomes hot and fever- 
ish, or strong, or acid, we may be certain that 
'' indigestion and surfeit have fouled and disturbed 
the blood ; and now is the time to apply a proper 
remedy, and prevent a train of impending evils. 
Let the child be restrained in its food. Let it eat 
less, live upon milk or thin broth for a day or two, 
and be carried, or walk if it is able, a little more 
than usual in the open air.'' ^ 

This rule is the more important because, if duly 
persevered in, it will generally prevent disease, and 
save the trouble and evil consequences of taking 
medicine at all. Meanwhile it will be advisable 
to call in a physician — not to give drugs, but to 
prevent the necessity of giving them. There is a 

* Advice to Mothers, page 338. 



GIVING MEDICINE. 213 

Making the patient sick by dosing. Economy of a physician. 

foolish fear abroad that physicians, if called before 
a person is violently sick, will dose him with their 
drugs, as a matter of course, till they make him 
sick. But this, no judicious physician will ever 
do. It may have heen done, though I believe it 
has been seldom. The more general course is to 
defer calling for medical advice, till it is too late to 
use preventive means ; and medicine is then re- 
sorted to by the physician, as a sort of necessary 
evil. 

A judicious physician, seasonably called in, 
would in many instances save a severe fit of sick- 
ness, besides a great deal of expense, both of time 
and money. 

But if the first symptoms of approaching disease 
are overlooked — if the child is fed, or rather 
crammed, with sohd food as much as ever — and if 
no medical advice is sought, his sleep will soon 
become disturbed ; he will be talking, starling, and 
tumbling about, and will have frightful dreams ; or 
he will at other times be found smiling and laugh- 
ing. To these, in the end, may be added loss of 
appetite, paleness, emaciation, weakness, cough 
and consumption ; or colics, worms and . convul- 
sions. 

I do not undertake to say that the most judicious 
parental management, aided by the greatest medi- 



214 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Diseases sometimes inherited. May usually be prevented. 

cal skill, will always prevent disease — far from it. 
The child may, and undoubtedly sometimes does 
inherit a tendency to a particular disease ; or he 
may be made sick by error in regard to dress, ex- 
ercise, he. But so long as nine tenths of the 
disease and early mortality of the young might 
be prevented by due attention to all these means 
combined, so long will it be necessary to reiterate 
the sentiments of the present section. 



CHAPTER X 

EXERCISE. 



Objections to the use of the cradle. 



This subject may be considered under the fol- 
lowing heads : rocking in the cradle ; carry- 
ing IN THE arms; crawling; walking; riding 
IN a carriage ; and riding on horseback. 
These I shall consider in their order. 

Sec. 1. Rocking in the Cradle. 

There are two opinions in regard to the use of 
the cradle in the nursery. Some condemn it alto- 
gether ; others think its occasional use highly pro- 
per. Those who condemn it, do it chiefly on the 
ground that it produces a whirling motion of the 
brain, which, while it inclines to giddiness and lulls 
to sleep, disturbs, in some degree, the process of 
digestion. 

It seems to me that there is weight to this ob- 
jection ; and although the cradle has been exten- 
sively used without producing any obviously evil 
effects, I should greatly prefer to have it univer- 



216 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Reasons for its disuse. The best kind of cradle. 

sally laid aside. As far as mere amusement is 
demanded, it is quite unnecessary, since there are 
so many amusements which are far better. As a 
means of inducing sleep, I am still more strongly 
opposed to it, — for if a child be rationally treated 
in every other respect, it will never need artificial 
means to induce it to sleep. Nature will then be 
the most appropriate directress in this matter. 

If there is a cradle in a nursery, it is almost 
always full of clothes loaded with air more or less 
impure, and the child is buried in it more than is 
compatible with health, even in the judgment of 
the mother or the nurse ; for so convenient is its 
use, and so great the temptation to keep the child 
in it, that he will often be found soaking there a 
large proportion of his time. Every one knows 
that the air has not so free access to a child in 
the cradle as elsewhere, especially if it have a kind 
of covering or hood to it, as we often see. Be- 
sides, the cradle is a piece of furniture which takes 
up a great deal of space in the nursery ; and every 
one who has made the trial effectually, will, it seems 
to me, greatly prefer its room to its company. 

If any cradle is to be used, those are best which 
are suspended by cords, and are swung, rather 
than rocked. And this swinging should be in a 
line with the body of the child as much as possi- 



EXERCISE. 217 

Best exercise for infants. Quieting with cordials and opiates. 

ble ; as this motion is less likely to produce injury 
than its opposite. 

Sec. 2. Carrying in the Arms. 

This is the most appropriate exercise for the 
first two months of existence ; and indeed, one of 
the best for some time afterward. 

Although a healthy, thriving child ought to 
sleep, for some time after birth, from two thirds to 
three fourths of his time, yet it should never be 
forgotten that the demand for proper exercise dur- 
ing the rest of the time, is not the less imperious 
on this account ; but probably the more so. 

I have already mentioned the importance of 
bathing, which is one form of exercise, and of gen- 
tle motion in the arms, immediately afterward. 
The same gentle motion should be often repeated 
during the day ; care being taken to hold the child 
in such a position as wdll be easy to him and favora- 
ble to the free exercise of all his limbs and muscles. 

There are many mothers and nurses who not 
only rejoice that the infant inclines to sleep a great 
deal, since it gives them more liberty, but who 
take pains to prolong these hours beyond what 
nature requires, by artificial means. I refer not 
only to the use of the cradle, but to means still 



218 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Exercise at ten days old. The body horizontal. 

more artificial — the use of cordials and opiates, to 
which I have already adverted. But whatever 
the means used may be, they defeat the purposes 
of nature, and are in the highest degree reprehen- 
sible. Nothing but the most chilling poverty should 
prevent the mother from having the child — for a 
few weeks of its first existence at least — in her own 
arms, nearly all the time which is not absolutely 
demanded for repose. She should even invite it 
to wakefulness, rather than encourage sleep. 

Attention to exercise ought to be commenced 
before the child is more than ten days old. For 
this purpose he should be placed on his back, on a 
pillow, in order that the body may rest at as many 
points as possible. In this position he has the 
opportunity to move his limbs with the most perfect 
freedom, and to exercise his numerous muscles. 
There is nothing more important to the infant — 
not even sleep itself — than the action of all his 
muscles; and nothing contributes more to his rapid 
growth. 

At first, the body should be kept, while on the 
arm, in nearly a horizontal position, with the head 
perhaps a very httle elevated; but after a few 
weeks, it will be proper to change the position for 
a small part of the time; placing the body so that 
it may form an angle of a few degrees with the 



EXERCISE. 219 

Error of nurses. Physiological advice to mothers. 

horizon. When this is done, however, it should 
always be by placing the hand against the shoul- 
ders and head, in such a manner as to support well 
the back ; for it is extremely injurious to suffer the 
feeble spine to sustain, at this early period, any 
considerable weight. 

Still more erroneous is the practice of some 
careless nurses, to carry the child quite upright a 
part of the time, almost without any support at all. 
There can be no doubt that the spinal column of 
many a child is injured for life in this way. There 
can be no apology for such things. 

But it is not sufficient to denounce, merely, the 
custom of holding the infant's body in an erect 
position. Every inquiring mother — and it is for 
such, and no other, that I write — will naturally 
and properly ask the reason why. 

The child is not born with all its bones solid. 
Some are mere cartilage for a considerable time. 
This is the case with the bones of the back. Now 
every person must see that the weight of the child's 
head and shoulders resting for a considerable time 
on the slender cartilaginous spinal column may 
easily bend it. And a curvature, thus given, may, 
jind often does, deform children for life. 

Dr. Dewees mentions a nurse who, from a fool- 
ish fondness for displaying them, made the children 



220 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Distorting the spine. Other dangers. 

consigned to her charge sit perfectly upright before 
they were a month old. It is truly ludicrous, he 
says, to see the little creatures sitting as straight 
as if they were stiffened by a back board. It is 
truly horrible^ I should say, rather than ludicrous. 
Crooked spines must be the inevitable conse- 
quence, if nothing worse. 

The practice of bracing children, as it is called, 
by straps, back boards, corsets, &:c., where it has 
produced any effect at all, has always had a ten- 
dency to crook the spine. This may be seen first 
by observing one shoulder to be lower than the 
other, and next, by a projection of the part of the 
shoulder blades next to the spine. Whenever 
these changes begin to appear, it is time to send 
for a physician, though it may often be too late to 
effect a cure. But on the general subject of bra- 
cing and corseting, I have treated at sufficient 
length elsewhere. 

There is another error committed in carrying 
children in the arms. The head of the infant is 
often permitted either to hang constantly on one 
side, or to roll about loosely, as if it hardly be- 
longed to the body. In the former case there is 
danger of producing a habit of holding the head 
upon one side, which it will be very difficult to 
overcome ; in the latter, the spinal marrow itself 



EXERCISE. 221 



Gentle motion. No tossing. Running- and jumping. 

may be injured ; which would produce alarming 
and perhaps fatal consequences. 

But all these evils, as has already been said, may 
be prevented if the hand is placed so as to support 
the head and shoulders. Let not the mother, 
however, who reads this work, trust the matter 
wholly to a nurse ; she must see to it herself; else 
she incurs a most fearful responsibility. The sug- 
gestions 1 have made are the more important in 
the case of children either very fleshy or very fee- 
ble, and of those disposed to rickets or scrofula ; 
but they are important to all. 

I have said that the motion of the child on the 
arm should be gentle. Many are in the habit of 
tossing infants about. There can be no objection 
to a slight and slow movement up and down, for a 
minute or so at a time ; indeed, it is rather to be 
recommended, as likely to give strength and vigor 
no less than pleasure to the child. But when such 
movements are carried to excess, so as to frighten 
the child, they are highly reprehensible. The 
shock thus produced to the nervous system has 
sometimes been so great as to produce sudden 
death. Nor is it safe to run, jump, or descend 
stairs hastily or violently, with a child in our arms ; 
and for similar reasons. 



222 THE yOUNG MOTHER. 

We must creep before we can walk. Why. 

Infants should not be carried always on the same 
arm, for there is danger of contracting a habit of 
leaning to one side, and thus of becoming crooked. 
On this account, the arm on which they rest should 
be often changed. Nor should they be grasped 
too firmly. A skilful mother will hold a child 
quite loosely, with the most perfect safety ; w^hile 
an inexperienced one will grasp him so hard as to 
expose the soft bones to be bent out of their place, 
and yet be quite as liable to let him fall as she w^ho 
handles him with more ease and freedom. 

Sec. 3. Crawling. 

" Mankind must creep before they can walk," is 
an old adage often used to remind us of that patient 
application which is so indispensable to secure any 
highly important or valuable end. But it is as 
true literally, as it is figuratively. The act of 
crawling exercises in a remarkable degree nearly 
all the muscles of the body ; and this, too, without 
much fatigue. 

Some mothers there indeed are, who think it a 
happy circumstance if a child can be taught to 
walk without this intermediate step. But such 
mothers must have strange ideas of the animal 



EXERCISE. 223 

Pleasures of self-direction. Crawlino- — its importance. 

economy. They must never have thought of the 
pleasure which crawhng affords the mind, or of 
the vigor it imparts to the body. 

Children are wonderfully pleased with their own 
voluntary efforts. What they can do themselves, 
yields them tenfold greater pleasure than if done 
by the mother or the nurse. Yet the latter are 
exceedingly prone to forget or overlook all this ; 
and to say, at least practically, that the only proper 
efforts are those to which themselves give direction. 

They are, moreover, exceedingly fond of display. 
Some mothers seem to act — in all they do with 
and for children — as if all the latter were good for, 
was display and amusement. They feed them, 
indeed, and strive to prolong their existence ; but 
it appears to be for similar reasons to those which 
would lead them to take kind care of a pet lamb. 

It is on this account that they dress them out in 
the manner they do, strive to make them sit up 
straight, and prohibit their crawhng. It is on this 
account too, as much perhaps as any other, that 
go-carts and leading strings are put in such early 
requisition. The contrary would be far the safer 
extreme ; and the parent who keeps his child 
scrambling about upon his back as long as he can, 
and when he cannot prevent longer an inversion 
of this position, retains him at creeping as long 



224 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



This rule urged on young mothers. Attempts to stand. 



as in his power, is as much wiser in comparison 
with him who urges him forward to make a pro- 
digy of him, as he is who, instead of making his 
child a prodigy in mind or morals at premature 
age, holds him back, and endeavors to have his 
mental and moral nature developed no faster than 
his physical frame. 

I wish young mothers would settle it in their 
minds at once, that the longer their children crawl 
the better. They need have no fears that the 
force of habit will retain them on their knees after 
nature has given them strength to rise and walk ; 
for their incessant activity, and inconirollable rest- 
lessness will be sure to rouse them as early as it 
ought. Least of all ought the difficulty of keeping 
them clean, to move them from the path of duty. 

Children who are allowed to crawl will soon be 
anxious to do more. We shall presently see them 
taking hold of a chair or a table, and endeavoring 
to raise themselves up by it. If they fail in a 
dozen attempts, they do not give up the point ; 
but persevere till their efforts are crowned with 
success. 

Having succeeded in raising themselves from 
the floor, they soon learn to stand, by holding to 
the object by which they have raised themselves. 
Soon, they acquire the art of standing without 



EXERCISE. 225 

Crooked legs and feet. How caused. Teaching to walk. 

holding ; * ere long they venture to put forward 
one foot ; they then repeat the effort, and walk a 
little, holding at the same time by a chair ; and 
lastly they acquire, with joy to them inexpressible, 
and to us inconceivable, the art of " trudging " 
;_fllone. 

When children learn to walk in nature's own 
"way, it is seldom indeed that we find them with 
curved legs, or crooked or clubbed feet. These 
deformities are almost universally owing either to 
the mother or the nurse. 

Let me be distinctly understood as utterly 
opposed, not only to go-carts, leading strings, and 
every other mechanical contrivance, to induce chil- 
dren to walk before their legs are fit for it, but to 
efforts of every kind, whose main object is the 
same. Teaching them to walk by taking hold of 
one of their hands, is in some respects quite as bad 
as aiiy other mode ; for if the child should fall 



* The art of standing, which consists in balancing 
one's self by means of the muscles of the body and 
lower limbs — simple as it may seem to those who have 
never reflected on the subject — is really an important 
acquisition for a child of twelve or fifteen months. No 
wonder they feel a conscious pride, when they find 
themselves able to stand erect, like the world about them. 
15 



226 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



Falls to be expected. Holding- by things. Going abroad. 

while we have hold of his hand, there is some 
danger of dislocating or otherwise injuring the limb. 
Falls we must expect ; but if a child is left to 
his own voluntary efforts as much as possible, these 
falls will be fewer, and probably less serious than 
under any other circumstances. 



Sec. 4. Walking. 

'* The way to learn to write without ruled 
lines is to rule,^^ was the frequent saying of an old 
schoolmaster whom I once knew ; and I may say 
with as much of confidence, and with more of 
truth, that '^ the way for a child to learn to walk 
alone, is to hold by things." 

I have anticipated, in previous pages, much of 
what might otherwise have been contained in this 
section. A few additional remarks are all that 
will be necessary. 

At first, the nursery will be quite large enough 
for our young pedestrian. Much time should 
elapse before he is permitted to go abroad upon 
the green grass ; — not lest the air should reach him, 
or the sun shine upon his face and hands, but be- 
cause the surface of the ground is so much less firm 
and regular than the floor, that he ought to be quite 
familiar with walking on the latter, in the first place. 



EXERCISE. 227 

Foolish fears. Calves and lambs in carriages. 

But when he can walk well in the play ground, 
garden, fields and roads, it is highly desirable that 
he should go out more or less every day, when 
the w^eather will possibly admit ; nor w ould I be 
so fearful as many are of a drop of rain or dew, 
or a breath of wind. For say what they will in 
favor of riding, sailing, and other modes of exer- 
cise, there is none equal to walking, as soon as a 
child is able— -none so natural, none, in ordinary 
cases, so salutary. I know it is unpopular, and 
therefore our young master or young miss must 
be hoisted into a carriage, or upon the back of a 
horse, to the manifest danger of health or limbs, 
or both. 

Who of us ever knew a herdsman or a shepherd 
who found it for the health and well being of the 
young calf or lamb, to hoist it into a carriage, and 
carry it through the streets, instead of suffering 
it to walk ? Such a thing would excite astonish- 
ment ; and the man who should do it would be 
deemed insane. The health and growth of our 
young domestic animals is best promoted by suf- 
fering them to walk, run and skip in their own 
way. They ask no artificial legs, or horses, or 
carriages. But w^ould it not be difficult to find 
arguments in favor of carrying children about, 
when they are able to w^alk, which would not be 



ti 



228 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Over-fatigue. Where the line of safety is. 

equally strong in favor of carrying about lambs 
and calves and pigs ? 

This is the more remarkable, from the consid- 
eration elsewhere urged, that in general, we take 
more rational pains about the physical well being 
of domestic animals than of children. However, 
it will be seen, on a little reflection, that the num- 
ber of those who carry children about is, after all, 
very inconsiderable. The greater portion of the 
community regard it as too troublesome or costly ; 
and if poverty brought with it no other evils than 
a permit to children to walk on the legs which the 
Creator has given them, it could hardly be deemed 
a misfortune. 

It is scarcely necessary to add, that there will be 
nothing gained to the young — or to persons of any 
age — from walks w^hich are very long and fatiguing. 
Walking should refresh and invigorate : when it is 
carried beyond this, especially with the young 
child, we have passed the line of safety. 

Sec. 5. Riding in Carriages, 

It will be seen, by the foregoing section, that I 
am not very friendly to the use of carriages for the 
young, after they can walk. Before this period, 
however, I think they may be often serviceable ; 



Wbi^ 



EXERCISE. 229 

Construction of carriages. Motion. Position. 

and there are occasional instances which may ren- 
der them useful afterward. On this account, I 
have thought it best to give the following general 
directions. 

Carriages for children should be so constructed 
as not to be liable to overset. To this end the 
wheels must be low, and the axle unusually ex- 
tended. The body should be long enough to 
allow the child to he down when necessary ; and 
so deep that he may not be likely to fall out. 
Everything should be made secure and firm, to 
avoid, if possible, the danger of accidents. 

The carriage should be drawn steadily and slow- 
ly ; not violently, or with a jerking motion. Such 
a place should be selected as will secure the child 
— if necessary — from the full blaze of a hot sun. 
This point might indeed be secured by having the 
carriage covered ; but I am opposed to covered 
carriages, for children or adults, unless we are 
compelled to ride in the rain. 

While the child is unable to sit up without in- 
jury, and even for some months afterwards, he 
ought by all means to lie down in a carriage, 
because it requires more strength to sit in a seat 
which is moving, than in a place where he is sta- 
tionary. In assuming the horizontal position, in a 
carriage, a pillow is needed, and such other arrange- 
ments as will prevent too much rolling. 



230 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



Sitting- up. Clothing. Falling asleep. Riding — how loDg. 

After the clilld's strength will fairly permit, he 
may sit up in the carriage, but he ought still to be 
secured against too much motion. As his strength 
increases, however, the latter direction will be less 
and less necessary. I need not repeat in this 
place, (had I not witnessed so many accidents from 
neglect,) the caution recently given, that great care 
should be taken to prevent the child from falling 
out of the carriage. 

While children are riding abroad in cold weath- 
er, much pains should be taken to see that they 
are suitably clothed. It is well to keep them in 
motion, while they are in the carriage, and espe- 
cially to guard against their falling asleep in the 
open air, until they have become very much accus- 
tomed to being out in it. 

It has been said by some writers, that a ride 
ought never to exceed the length of half an hour; 
but no positive rule can be given, except to avoid 
over-fatigue. 



Sec. 6. Riding on Horseback, 

When children are very young, I think it both 
improper and unsafe to take them abroad on horse- 
back ; I mean so long as they are in health. In 
case of disease, this mode of exercise is sometimes 
one of the most salutary in the world. 



EXERCISE. 231 



Riding schools. Objections to riding on horseback. 

But after boys are six or seven years old, and 
girls ten, if they are ever to practise horsemanship, 
it is time for them to begin ; both because they 
are less apt to be unreasonably timid at this age, 
and because they learn much more rapidly. 

So few parents are good horsemen, that if there 
is a riding school at hand, T should prefer placing 
a child in it at once. But I v^ish to be distinctly 
understood, that I do not consider it a matter of 
importance, especially to females, that they should 
ever learn to ride at all. 

Some of the principal objections to riding on 
horseback, by boys, as an ordinary exercise, are 
tlie following : 

1. Walking, as I have already intimated, is one 
of the most healthy modes of exercise in the 
world. It is nature's exercise ; and was unques- 
tionably in exclusive use long before universal 
dominion was given to man, if not for many cen- 
turies afterward ; and I believe it would be very 
difficult to prove that it interfered at all with 
human longevity ; for the first of our race lived 
almost a thousand years. 

2. Young children, in riding on horseback, are 
rather apt to acquire, rapidly, the habit of don^ii- 
neering over animals. It seems almost need- 
less to say how easy the transition is, in such 



232 



THE YOUNG MOTHER, 



Avoid fostering the spirit of slavery. 



cases, should opportunity offer, from tyranny over 
the brute slave, to tyranny over the human being. 
There are slave-holders in the family and in the 
school, as well as elsewhere. It is the spirit of a 
person which makes him either tyrant or slave- 
holder. And let us beware how we foster this 
spirit in the children whom God has given us. 



CHAPTER XI 



AMUSEMENTS. 



Amusements indispensable. Definition of our term. 

However heterodox the concession may be, I 
am one of those who believe amusements of some 
sort or other to be universally necessary. Indeed 
I cannot possibly conceive of an individual in 
health, whatever may be the age, sex, condition 
or employment, who does not need them, in a 
greater or less degree. 

Now if by the terra amusement, I only meant 
employment, nobody would probably differ from 
me, at least in theory. Every one is ready to 
admit the importance of being constantly employed. 
A mind unemployed is a vacant mind. And a 
vacant or idle mind is '^the devil's workshop;" 
so says the proverb. 

By amusement, however, I mean something 
more than mere employment ; for the more con- 
stantly an adult individual is employed, the greater, 
generally, is his demand for amusement. Indolent 
persons have less need of being amused than 
others ; but perhaps there are few if any persons 



234 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



Fondness for amusement. 



Its quality. 



Its nature. 



to be found, who are so indolent as not to think 
continually, on one subject or another. And it is 
this constant thinking, more than anything else, 
that creates the necessity of which I am speaking. 
The mere drudge, whether biped or quadruped, — 
he, I mean, whose thisking powers are scarcely 
alive, — has little need of the relief which is 
afforded by amusement. 

The young of all animals — man among the rest 
— appear to have such an instinctive fondness for 
amusement, that so long as they are unrestrained, 
they seldom need any urging on this point. In 
regard to quality, the case is somewhat different. 
In this respect, most children require attention and 
restraint ; and some of them a great deal of it. 

But what is the nature of the amusement which 
adults — nay, mankind generally — require ? I an- 
swer, it is relief from the employment of thinking. 
For it is not that mankind do not reallv think 
at all, that moralists complain so loudly. When 
they tell us that men will not think, they mean 
that they will not think as rational beings. They 
think, indeed ; and so do the ox, and the horse, 
and the dog, and the elephant ;" but not as rational 
men ought to do ; and this it is that constitutes the 
burden of complaint. But you will probably find 
few persons belonging to the human species who 



AMUSEMENTS. 235 



Necessity of amusement to children. A great error. 

do not think constantly, at least while awake ; and 
whose mental powers do not become fatiguedj and 
demand relief in amusement. 

Children's minds are so soon wearied by a con- 
tinuous train of thinking, even on topics which are 
pleasing to them, that they can seldom be brought 
to give their attention to a single subject long at 
once. They require almost incessant change; both 
for the sake of relief, and to amuse for the sake of 
amusement. And it is, to my own mind, one of 
the most striking proofs of Infinite Wisdom in the 
creation of the human mind, that it has, during 
infancy, such an irresistible tendency to amusement. 

How greatly do they err, who grudge children, 
especially very young children, the time which, in 
obedience to the dictates of their nature, they are 
so fond of spending in sports and gambols ! How 
much morp rational would it be to encourage and 
direct them in their amusements ! And how ex- 
ceedingly unwise is the practice, whenever and 
wherever it exists, of confining them to school 
rooms and benches not only for hours, but for 
whole half days at once. ' 

If individuals and circumstances were every- 
where combined, with special purpose to oppose 
the intentions of nature respecting the human 
being, at every step of his progress from the era- 



236 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Error in family arrangements. The child regarded as a cypher. 

die to maturity, and from maturity to the grave, I 
hardly know how they could contrive to accom- 
plish such a purpose more effectually than it is at 
present accomplished. But it is proper that I 
should here explain a little. 

x\ll our family arrangements tend to repress 
amusement. Everything is contrived to facilitate 
business ; — especially the business or employments 
of adults. The child is hardly regarded as a 
human being — certainly not as a perfect being. 
He is considered as a mere fragment ; or to change 
the figure, as a plant too young to be of any real 
service to mankind, because too young to bear any 
of its appropriate fruits. Whereas, in my opinion, 
both infancy and childhood, at every stage, should 
luring forth their appropriate fruits. In other 
words, the child of the most tender years should 
be regarded as a whole, and not as the^mere frag- 
ment of a being ; as a perfect member of a family ; 
occupying a full and complete, only a more limited 
sphere than older members : and all the rules and 
regulations and arrangements of the family should 
have a reference to this point. So long as a child is 
reckoned to be a mere cypher in creation, or at most, 
as of no more practical importance, till the arrival 
of his twenty-first birth day, or some other equally 
arbitrary period, than our domestic animals, — that 



AMUSEMENTS. 237 



An error of infant schools. Suggestions. 

is, of just sufficient consequence to be fed, and 
caressed, and fondled, and made a pet of — so long 
will our arrangements be made with sole reference 
to the comfort and happiness of adults. There 
may indeed be here and there a child's chair, or a 
child's carriage, or newspaper, or book ; but there 
will seldom be, except by stealth, any free, juve- 
nile conversation at the table or the fireside. Here 
the child must sit as a blank or a cypher, to rumi- 
nate on the past, or to receive half-formed and 
passive impressions from the present. 

The arrangements of the infant school, also, 
seem designed for the same purpose — to repress as 
much as possible the infantile desire for amuse- 
ment. Not that this was their original, nor that it 
is now their legitimate intention. Their legitimate 
object is, or should be, not to develope the intel- 
lect by over- working the tender brain, but to pro- 
mote cheerfulness and health and love and happi- 
ness by well contrived amusements, conducted as 
much as possible in the open air; and by unremit- 
ting efforts to elicit and direct the affections. In- 
fant schools should repress rather than encourage 
the hard study of books. Lessons at this age 
should be drawn chiefly from objects in the garden, 
the field, and the grove ; from the flower, the 
plant, the tree, the brook, the bird, the beast, the 



238 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Error of common schools. No play grounds. 

worm, the fly, the human body ; the sun, or the 

visible heavens. These lessons, whether given by 

the parent, as constituting a part of the family 

arrangements, or by the infant or primary school 

teacher, should, it is true, be regarded for the time 

being as study ; but they should never be long, and 

should be frecpently relieved by the most free and 

unrestrained pastimes and gambols of the young 

on the green grass, or beside the rippling stream, 

uninfluenced, or at least unrepressed, by those 

who are set over them. 

The public or common school, overlooking as it 

does any direct attempts to make provision for the 

amusement of the pupils, even during the scanty 

recess that is afforded them once in three hours, 

would appear to a stranger on this planet, at first 

sight, to be designed as much as possible to defeat 

every intention of nature with reference to the 

growth of the human frame. For we may often 

travel many hundreds of miles and not see so much 

as an enclosed play ground ; and never perhaps 

any direct provision for particular and more favora- 

^ ble amusements. 

[f 

I might speak of other schools and places of 

resort for children, and proceed to show how all 

our arrangements appear to be the offspring of a 

species of utilitarianism which rejects every sport 



AMUSEMENTS. 239 



Ultra utilitarianism. An explanation. 

■ ^ — -r -* — 

whose value cannot be estimated in dollars and 
cents. I might even refer to those schools of our 
country where these ultra utilitarian notions are 
carried to an extent which excludes amusing con- 
versation or reading even during meal time ; and 
devotes the hours which w^ere formerly spent in 
recreation, to manual labor of some productive 
kind or other. — But I forbear. Enough has been 
said to illustrate the position I have taken, that 
there is in vogue a system which bears the marks 
of having been contrived, if not by the enemies 
of our race, either openly or covertly, at least by 
those whom ignorance renders scarcely less at w^ar 
with the general happiness. 

Now I would not deny or attempt to deny that 
change of occupation of body or mind is of itself 
an amusement, and one too of great value. Un- 
doubtedly it is so. To some children, studies of 
every kind are an amusement ; and there are few 
indeed to whom none are so. Labor, with many, 
when alternated with study, is amusing. And yet, 
after all, unless such labors are performed in com- 
pany, where light and cheerful conversation is sure 
to keep the mind away from the subjects about 
which it has just been engaged, I am afraid that 
the purposes for which amusements were designed 
are very far from being ail secured. 



240 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

An apology. Amusements of the nursery. 

But perhaps I am dwelling too long on the 
general principle that people of every age, and 
children' in particular, need and must have amuse- 
ments, whether they are of a productive kind or 
not ; and that it is very far from being sufficient, 
were it either practicable or desirable, to turn all 
study and labor into amusement."^ My business 
is with those who direct the first dawnings of 
affection and intellect. Principles are by no 
means of less importance on this account ; but the 
limits of a work for young mothers do not admit 
of anything more than a brief discussion of their 
importance. 

I will now proceed to speak of some of the 
more common amusements of the nursery. 

I have seen very young children sit on the floor 
and amuse themselves for nearly half an hour 
together, with piling up and taking down small 



* I will even say, more distinctly than I have already 
done, that however popular the contrary opinion may 
be, neither study nor work ought to be regarded as mere 
amusement. I would, it is true, take every possible 
pains to render both work and study agreeable ; but I 
would at the same time have it distinctly understood, 
that one of them is by no means the other ; — that, on the 
contrary, work is work ; study, study ; and amusement, 
amusement 



AMUSEMENTS. 241 



Pictures for children. Playing at shuttlecock. 

wooden cubes, of different sizes. Some of them, 
instead of being cubes, however, may be of the 
shape of bricks. Their ingenuity, while they are 
scarcely a year or two old, in erecting houses, 
temples, churches, &c., is sometimes surprising. 
Girls as well as boys seem to be greatly amused 
with this form of exercise ; and both seem to be 
little less gratified in destroying than in rearing 
their hlliputian edifices. 

Next to the latter kind of amusement, is the 
viewing of pictures. It is surprising at what an 
early age children may be taught to notice m^inia- 
ture representations of objects ; living objects 
especially. Representations of the works of art 
should come in a little later than those of things 
in nature. I know a father who prepares volumes 
of pictures, solely for this purpose ; though he 
usually regards them not only as a source of 
amusement to children, but as a medium of instruc- 
tion. 

Battledoor or shuttlecock may be taught to 
children of both sexes very early ; and it affords a 
healthy and almost untiring source of amusement. 
It gives activity as well as strength to the muscles 
or moving powers, and has many other important 
advantages. There is some danger, according to 
16 



242 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



The rocking'-horse. 



Caution in resrard to its use. 



Dr. Pierson,^ of distorting the spine by playing 
at shuttlecock too frequently and too long ; but 
this will seldom be the case with little children in 
the nursery. Neither shuttlecock nor any other 
amusement will secure their attention long enough 
to injure them very much. 

Perhaps this exercise comes nearer to my ideas 
of a perfect amusement, than almost any which 
could be named. The mind is agreeably occu- 
pied, without being fatigued ; and if the amuse- 
ments are proportioned to the age and strength of 
the child, there is very little fatigue of the body. 
It gives, moreover, great practical accuracy to the 
eye and to the hand. 

A rocking-horse is much recommended for the 
nursery. I have had no opportunity for observing 
the effects of this kind of amusement ; but if it is 
one half as valuable as some suppose, 1 should be 
inclined to recommend it. But I am opposed to 
fostering in the rider lessons of cruelty, by arming 
him with whips and spurs. If the young are ever 
to learn to ride, on a living horse, the exercises of 
the rocking-horse will, most certainly, be a sort of 
preparation for the purpose. 



* See his Lecture before the American Institute of 
Instruction. 



AMUSEMENTS. 243 



Tops and marbles. Backg-ammon. Morrice, nine-pins, &c. 

Tops and marbles afford a great deal of rational 
amusement to the young ; and of a very useful 
kind, too. Spinning a top is second to no exercise 
which I have yet mentioned, unless it is playing at 
shuttlecock. 

Dr. Dewees recommends a small backgammon 
table, with men, but without dice. He says, also, 
that "children, as soon as they are capable of 
comprehending the subject, should be taught 
draughts or checkers. The game is not only 
highly amusing, but also very instructive." In 
another place he heaps additional encomiums upon 
the game of checkers. '^ It becomes a source of 
endless amusement," he says, " as it never tires, 
but always instructs." Of exercises which in- 
struct, however, as well as amuse, I shall speak 
presently. 

The amusements called " morrice," " fox and 
geese," &c., with which some of the children of 
almost every neighborhood are more or less ac- 
quainted, are of the same general character and 
tendency as checkers. So is a play sometimes, 
but very improperly, called dice, in which two 
parties play with a small bundle of wooden pins, 
not unlike knitting pins in shape, but shorter. 

The writer to whom I have referred above 
recommends nine-pins and balls of proper size, as 



244 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



Skipping the rope. Trundling- the hoop. 



Ball playing". 



highly useful both for diversion and exercise. If 
they can be used without leading to bad habits 
and bad associations, I think they may be useful. 

For girls, who demand a great deal more of 
exercise, both within doors and without, skipping 
the rope is an excellent amusement. So also is 
swinging. Both of these exercises may be used 
either out of doors, or in the nursery. 

Trundling a hoop I have always regarded as an 
amusing out of door exercise ; and I am not sorry 
when I sometimes see girls, as well as boys, en- 
gaged in it, under the eye of their mothers and 
teachers. 

Playing ball, of which there are many different 
games, and flying kites, employ a large proportion 
if not all of the muscles of the body, in such a 
manner as is likely to confirm the strength and 
greatly improve the health. The same may be 
said of skating in the winter, and swimming in the 
summer. But these last are exercises over which 
the mother cannot, ordinarily, have very much 
control. 

Under the head of amusements it only remains 
for me to speak of a few juvenile employments of 
a mixed nature. Of these I shall treat very 
briefly, as they are a branch of the subject which 
does not necessarily come within the compass of 



AMUSEMENTS. 245 



Dissected maps. How used. Black boards. 

my present plan. They are exercises, too, which 
should more properly come under the head of In- 
fantile Instruction. 

Dissected maps afford children of every age a 
great fund of amusement ; but much caution is 
necessary, with those that are very young, not to 
discourage or confound them by showing them too 
many at once. Thus if we cut in pieces the map 
of one of the smaller United States, at the county 
lines, or the whole United States, at the state 
lines, it is quite as many divisions as they can 
manage. Cut up as large a state, even, as Penn- 
sylvania or New York is, into counties, and try 
to lead them to amuse themselves by putting 
together so large a number, many of which must 
inevitably very closely resemble each other, and it 
is ten to one but you bewilder, and even perplex 
and discourage. The same results would follow 
from cutting up even the whole of a large county, 
or a small state, into towns. I have usually begun 
with little children, by requiring them to put 
together the eight counties of the small state of 
Connecticut. In this case the counties are not 
only few, but there is a very striking difference in 
their shape. 

A black board and a piece of chalk, along with 
a little ingenuity on the part of the mother, will 



246 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Elements of letters. Dissected pictures. 

furaish the child with an almost endless variety of 
amusement. Let him attempt to imitate almost 
any object which interests him, whether among 
the works of nature or art. However rude his 
pictures may be, do not laugh at, but on the con- 
trary, endeavor to encourage him. He may also 
be permitted to imitate letters and figures. 

The elements of letters, too, both printed and 
written, maybe given him, and he may be required 
to put them together. Dissected pictures, as well 
as dissected maps and letters, are useful, and to 
most children very acceptable. 

In short, the devices of an ingenious, thinking 
mother, for the amusement of her very young 
children, are almost endless ; and the great danger 
is, that when a mother once enters deeply into the 
spirit of these exercises, she will substitute them 
for those much more healthy ones which have 
been already mentioned, such as require muscular 
activity, or may be performed in the open air. 



CHAPTER XII. 



CRYING. 



Crying useful to children. An anecdote. 

" Crying," says Dr. Dewees, ^^ should be 
looked upon as an exercise of much importance ;" 
and he is sustained in this view by many eminent 
medical writers. 

But people generally think otherwise. Nothing 
is more common than the idea that to cry is 
unbecoming ; and children ^re everywhere taught, 
when they suffer pain, to brave it out, and not cry* 
Such a direction — to say nothing of its tendency 
to encourage hypocrisy — is wholly unphilosophi- 
cal. The following anecdote may serve in part to 
illustrate my meaning. It is s-aid to have been 
related by Dr. Rush. 

A gentleman in South Carolina was about to 
undergo a very painful surgical operation. He 
had imbibed the idea that it was beneath the dig- 
nity of a man, ever to say or do anything expres- 
sive of pain. He therefore refused to submit to 
the usual precaution of securing the hands and feet 
by bandages, declaring to his surgeon that he had 



248 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Groans and tears afford real relief. Anecdote of a stoic. 

nothing to fear from his being untied, for he would 
not move a muscle of his body. He kept his 
word, it is true ; but he died instantly after the 
operation, from apoplexy. 

There is very little doubt, in the mind of any 
physiologist, in regard to the cause of apoplexy in 
this case ; and that it might have been prevented 
by the relief which is always afforded by groans 
and tears. 

It is, I believe, very generally known, that in 
the profoundest grief, people do not, and cannot 
shed tears ; and that when the latter begin to flow, 
it affords immediate relief. 

I do not undertake to argue from this, that 
crying is so important, either to the young or 
the old, that it is ever worth while to excite or 
continue it by artificial means : — or that a habit 
of crying, so easily and readily acquired by the 
young, is not to be guarded against as a serious 
evil. My object was, first, to show the folly 
of those who denounce all crying, and secondly, 
to point out some of its advantages ; in the hope 
of preventing parents from going to that extreme 
which borders on stoicism. 

One of the most intelligent men I ever knew, 
frequently made it his boast that he neither laughed 
nor cried on any occasion ; and on being told 



CRYING, 249 



Physiology of crying. Folly to resist it. 

that both laughing and crying were physiologically 
useful, only ridiculed the sentiment. 

Crying is useful to very young infants, because 
it favors the passage of blood in their lungs, where 
it had not before been accustonned to travel, and 
where its motion is now indispensable. And it 
not only promotes the circulation of the blood, but 
expands the air cells of the lungs, and thus helps 
forward that great change, by which the dark- 
colored impure blood of the veins is changed at 
once into pure blood, and thus rendered fit to 
nourish the system and sustain life. 

But this is not all. Crying strengthens the 
lungs themselves. It does this by expanding the 
little air cells of which I have just spoken, and 
not only accustoms them to being stretched, at a 
period, of all others, the most favorable for this 
purpose, but frees them at the same time from 
mucus, and other injurious accumulations. 

They, therefore, who oppose an infant's crying, 
know not what they do. So far is it from being 
hurtful to the child, that its occasional recurrence 
is, as we have already seen, positively useful. 
Some practitioners of medicine, in some of the 
more trying situations in which human nature can 
be placed, even encourage their patients to suffer 
tears to flow, as a means of relief. 



250 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Crying farther considered. '' Waste gate " of the system. 

Infants, it should also be recollected, have no 
other language by which to express their wants 
and feelings, than sighs and tears. Crying is not 
always an expression of positive pain ; it some- 
times indicates hunger and thirst ; and sometimes 
the want of a change of posture. This last con- 
sideration deserves great attention ; and all the 
inconveniences of crying ought to be borne cheer- 
fully, for the sake of having the little sufferer 
remind us when nature demands a change of posi- 
tion. No child ought to be permitted to remain 
in one position longer than two hours, even while 
sleeping ; nor half that time, while awake ; and if 
nurses and mothers will overlook this matter as 
they often do, it is a favorable circumstance that 
the child should remind them of it. 

Crying has been called the ^^ waste gate" of the 
human system ; the door of escape to that excess 
of excitability which sometimes prevails, especially 
among children and nervous adults. To all such 
persons it is healthy ; — most undoubtedly so : nor 
do I know that its occasional recurrence is injurious 
to any adult ; a fastidious public sentiment to the 
contrary notwithstanding. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LAUGHING. 



" Laugh and be fat." A common error. 

Laughing, like crying, has a good effect on the 
infantile lungs ; nor is it less salutary in other 
respects. " Laugh and be fat," an old adage, has 
its meaning, and also its philosophy. 

There is an excess, however, to which laughing 
no less than crying may be carried ; and which we 
cannot too carefully avoid. But how little to be 
envied — how much to be pitied — are they who 
consider it a weakness and a sin to laugh ; and in 
the plenitude of their wisdom, tell us that the 
Saviour of mankind never laughed. When I 
hear this last assertion, I am always ready to ask, 
whether the individual who makes it has read a 
new revelation or a new gospel ; for certainly none 
of the sacred books which I have seen, give us 
any such information. 

But I will not dwell here. The common notion 
on this subject, if not ridiculous, is certainly 
strange. I will only add, that, come into vogue 
as it might have done, there is no opinion more 



252 



THE YOUNG MOTHER, 



Mistake of some parents. 



Monastic notions. 



unfounded than the very general one among adults, 
that children should be uniformly grave ; and that 
just in proportion as they laugh and appear frolick- 
some, just in the same proportion are they out 6f 
the way, and deserving of reprehension. 

It is strange that it should be so, but I have 
seen many parents v^-ho were miserable because 
their children were sporting and joyful. Oh, 
when will the days of monkish sadness and aus- 
terity be over; and the public sentiment in the 
christian world get right on this subject ! 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SLEEP. 



Despising all rules in regard to sleep. 



Not a few persons consider all rules relative to 
sleep as utterly futile. They regard it as so much 
of a natural or animal process^ that if we are let 
alone, we shall seldom err, at any age, respecting 
it. Rules, on the subject, above all, they regard 
as wholly misplaced. 

Those who entertain such views, would do well, 
in order to be consistent, to go a little farther; 
and as breathing, and eating, and drinking — nay, 
and even thinking — are natural processes, deny 
the utility of all rules respecting them also. Per- 
haps they would do well, iPjoreover, to deny that 
rules of any sort are valuable. But would not 
this have the effect to bar the door perpetually, 
against all human improvement ? Would it not be 
equivalent to saying, to a half-civilized, because 
only half-christianized community — Go on with 
your barbarous customs, and your uncleanly and 
unthinking habits forever ? 



254 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



Example of Cato. 



Modern times produce few such. 



But I have not so learned human nature. I 
regard man as susceptible of endless progression* 
And I know of no way in which more rapid pro- 
gress can be made, than by enlightening young 
mothers on subjects which pertain to our physical 
nature, and the means of physical improvement. 
Not for the sake of that perishable part of man, 
the frame, but because it is nearly in vain to 
attempt to improve the mind and heart, without 
due attention to the frame work, to which mind 
and heart, for the present, are appended, and most 
intimately related. 

Let it be left to fathers to study the improve- 
ment of hounds and horses and cattle, and at the 
same time to think themselves above the concerns 
of the nursery. We may, indeed, read of a Cato 
once in three thousand years, who was in the habit 
of quitting all other business in order to be present 
when the nurse washed and rubbed his child. But 
our passion for gain, in the present age, is so much 
more absorbing and soul destroying than the pas- 
sion for military glory, that we cannot expect many 
Catos. Oh no. All, or nearly all must devolve 
on the mother. The father has no time to attend 
to his children ! What belongs to the mother, if 
she can be duly awakened, may be at least half 



SLEEP. 255 

General importance of sleep. Appropriate hours. 

done ; what belongs to the father, must, I fear, be 
left undone. 

I am accustomed to regard every day — even of 
the infant — as a miniature hfe. I am, moreover, 
accustomed to consider mental and bodily vigor, 
not only for each separate day, but for hfe's whole 
day, as greatly influenced by the circumstances of 
sleep ; — the hour, place, purity of the air, 
the BED, the covering, dress, posture, state 
of the mind, q^uality, quantity, and duration. 

Sec li Hour for Repose. 

Generally speaking, the night is the appropriate 
season for repose ; but in early infancy, it is every 
hour. I have already spoken of the vast amount 
of sleep which the new born infant requires, as 
well as of many Other circumstances connected 
with it, requiring our attention. Suffer me, how- 
ever, to enlarge, at the risk of a little repetition. 
\ What time the infant is awake, should be during 
the day. It is of very great importance, in 
the formation of good habits, that he should be 
undressed and put to bed, at evening, with as 
much regularity as if he had not slept during the 
day for a single moment. It is also important that 



256 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Dark rooms for sleeping. Sundry necessary cautions. 

he be permitted to sleep during the whole night, 
as uninterruptedly as possible ; and that when he 
is aroused, to have his position or diapers changed, 
or to receive food, it should be done with little 
parade and noise, and with as httle light as pos- 
sible. All persons, old as well as young, sleep 
more quietly in a dark room, than in one where 
a li^ht is burnino;. 

I am well aware that the course here recom- 
mended, may be carried to an excess which will 
utterly defeat the object intended, since there are 
children to be found, who lare so trained in this 
respect, that the lightest tread upon the floor will 
awake, and perhaps frighten them. But this is an 
excess which is not required. All that is neces- 
sary during the night, is a reasonable degree of 
silence, in order to induce the habit of continued 
rest, if possible. In the day time, on the contrary, 
fatigue will impel a child to sleep occasionally, 
even in the midst of noise. I am not sure that 
the habit of sleeping in the midst of noise is not 
w^orth a little pains on the part of the mother. 
Nor is it improbable that a habit of this kind, once 
acquired by the infant, might ultimately be ex- 
tended to the night, so that over-caution, even 
in regard to that season, might gradually be laid 
aside. 



SLEEP. 257 

Why infants should not sleep with their mothers or nurses. 

Sec. 2. Place. 

For some time after its birth, the infant should 
sleep near its mother, though not in the same bed. 
The bedstead should be of the usual height of 
bedsteads, and should be enclosed with a raihng 
sufficient to secure the infant from falling out, but 
not of such a structure as to hinder, in any degree, 
a free circulation of the air. 

The reasons why a child ought to sleep alone, 
and not with the mother or nurse, are numerous ; 
but the following are the principal : 

1 . The heat accumulated by the bodies of the 
mother and child both, is often too great for 
health. 

2. The air is too impure. I have already 
spoken of the change in the purity of the air 
which is produced by breathing it. It is bad 
enough for two adults to sleep in the same bed, 
breathing over and over again the impure air, as 
they must do more or less, even if the bed is very 
large ; — but it is still worse for infants. Their 
lungs demand atmospheric air in its utmost purity ; 
and if denied it, must eventually suffer. 

3. But besides the change of the air by breath- 
ing, the surface of the body is perpetually chang- 
ing it in the same manner, as was stated in the 

17 



258 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



CoverinsT the heads of infants. 



Its danger. 



chapter on Ventilation. Now a child will almost 
inevitably breathe a stream of this bad air, as it 
issues from the bed ; and what is still worse, b 
very apt, in spite of every precaution, to get its 
head covered up with the clothes, where it can 
hardly breathe anything else. - This, if frequently 
repeated, is slow but certain death ; as much so 
as if the child were to drink poison in moderate 
quantities. 

Let me not be told that this is an exaggeration ; 
that thousands of mothers make it a point to cover 
up the heads of their infants ; and that notwith- 
standing this, they are as healthy as the infants of 
their neighbors. I have not said that they would 
droop and die while infants. The fames of lead, 
which is a certain poison, may be inhaled, and yet 
the child or adult who inhales them may live on, 
in tolerable health, for many years. But suffer 
he must, in the end, in spite of every effort and 
every hope. So must the child, whose head is 
covered habitually with the bed clothing, where it 
is compelled to breathe not only the air spoiled by 
its own skin, but also that which is spoiled by the 
much larger surface of body of the mother or the 
nurse.. 

But I have proof on this subject. Friedlander, 
in his " Physical Education," says expressly, that 



SLEEP. 259 

Facts in Great Britain. In the United States. 

in Great Britain alone, between the years 1686 
and 1800, no less than 40,000 children died in 
consequence of this practice of allowing children 
to sleep near their nurses. I was at first disposed 
to doubt the accuracy of this most remarkable 
statement. But when I consider the respectability 
of the authority from which it emanated, and that 
it is only about 350 a year for that great empire, I 
cannot doubt that the estimate is substantially cor- 
rect. What a sacrifice at the shrine of ignorance 
and folly ! 

It should be added in this place, both to con- 
firm the foregoing sentiment, and to show that 
British mothers and nurses are not alone, that Dr. 
Dewees has witnessed, in the circle of his practice, 
four deaths from the same cause. If every physi- 
cian in the United States has met with as many 
cases of the kind, in proportion to his practice, as 
Dr. D., the evil is about as great in this country 
as Dr. F. says it is in Great Britain. 

If a child sleeps alone, it cannot of course be 
liable to as much suffering of this kind, as if it 
slept with another person ; though much precau- 
tion will still be necessary, to keep its head uncov- 
ered, and prevent its inhaling air spoiled by its 
ow^n lungs and skin. 



260 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Sleeping on the arm. A sad accident. 

4. There is one more evil which will be avoided 
by having a child sleep alone. Many a mother 
has seriously injured her child by pressure. I do 
not here allude to those monsters in human nature, 
whose besotted habits have been the frequent 
cause of the suffocation and death of their off- 
spring ; but to the more careful and tender mother, 
who would sooner injure herself than her own 
child. Such mothers, even, have been known to 
dislocate or fracture a limb ! * 

To cap the climax of error in this matter, some 
mothers allow their infants to lie on their arm, as 
a pillow. This practice not only exposes them to 
all or nearly all the evils which have been men- 
tioned, but to one more ; viz. the danger of being 
thrown from the bed. 

A young mother, with whom I was well ac- 
quainted, was sleeping one night with her infant 
on her arm, when she made a sudden and rather 
violent effort to turn in the bed, in doing which 
she threw the child upon the floor with such 



* There may be instances where the debility of an 
infant will be so great that the mother or a nurse must 
sleep with it, to keep it warm. But such cases of dis- 
ease are very rare. 



SLEEP. 261 

Sleeping in separate chambers. Some of the reasons. 

violence as to fracture its little skull, and cause 
its death. 

Enough, I trust, has now been said to convince 
every reasonable young mother, 'where absolute 
poverty does not preclude comfort and health, that 
ha- child ought never to be permitted to sleep in 
the same bed with her ; but that it should be 
placed on a bedstead by itself at a short distance 
from her ; and properly guarded from accidents ; 
and above all, from inhaling impure air. 

At a suitable age, a child may be removed from 
the nursery to a separate chamber. Here, if the 
circumstances permit, it should still sleep by itself; 
but if the bedstead be somewhat lower than ordi* 
nary, and the room be not too small, it will need 
no watching. 

Perhaps this may be the proper place to say 
that there are more reasons than one — and same 
of them are of a moral nature too — why a child 
should continue to sleep alone, after it leaves the 
nursery. Nor is it sufficient to prohibit its sleep- 
ing with younger persons, and yet crowd it into 
the bed with an aged grandfather or grandmother, 
or with both. There is no excuse for a course 
like this, except the iron hand of necessity. And 
even then, I should prefer to have a child of mine 



262 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Sleeping with the old. With cats and do^s. 

sleep on the hard floor, at least during the summer 
season, rather than with an aged person. 

Let it not be supposed I have imbibed the 
fashionable idea that it is peculiarly unhealthy for 
the young to sleep with the old. I know this 
doctrine has many learned advocates. And yet I 
doubt its correctness. I believe that the manners 
and habits of the old may injure the young who 
sleep with them, and I know that they render the 
air impure, like other people. But I cannot see 
why the mere circumstance of their being old 
should be a source of unhealthiness to their 
younger bed-fellows. Still I say that there are 
reasons enough against the practice I am opposing 
without this. 

Some parents allow dogs and cats to sleep with 
children. Others have a prejudice against cats, 
but not against dogs. The truth is that they both 
contaminate the air by respiration and perspira- 
tion, in the same manner that adults do. And 
aside from the fact that they are often infested by 
lice and other insects, and addicted to uncleanly 
habits, they ought always to be excluded, and 
with iron bars and bolts if necessary, from the beds 
of children. But of this, too, I have treated else- 
where. 



SLEEP. 263 



The air in nurseries. Sleeping with open windows. 

Sec. 3. Purity of the Air, 

The general importance of pure air, has been 
mentioned. I have spoken of the elements of the 
atmosphere in which we live, of the manner in 
which it may be vitiated, and the consequences to 
health. I have show^n — perhaps at sufficient 
length — the impropriety of washing, drying and 
ironing clothes in the room where a child is kept ; 
of cooking in the room, especially on a stove ; of 
suffering tlie floor or clothes, particularly those of 
the child, to remain long wet, in the room ; of 
smoking tobacco, using spirits, burning oil with too 
long a wick, &lc. 

All w^hich has thus been said of the purity of 
the air of the nursery generally, is applicable to 
that of all sleeping rooms. It is an important 
point gained, when we can secure a nursery with 
folding doors in the centre, so as, when we please, 
to make two rooms of it. In that case, the divi- 
sion in which the bed is, can be completely venti- 
lated a little before night, and thus be compara- 
tively pure for the reception of both the mother 
and the child. 

Shall the windows and doors where a child 
sleeps, be kept closed ; or shall they be suffered 
to remain open a part or the whole of the night ? 




264 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Lowering- windows from the top. Dr. Greg^ory. Macnish. 

This must be determined by circumstances. If 
there are no doors but such as communicate with 
apartments whose air is equally impure with that 
in which the child is, it is preferable to keep them 
closed. If the windows cannot be opened without 
exposing the child to a current of air, it is perhaps 
the less of two evils, not to open them. 

But we are not usually driven to such extremi- 
ties. In some instances windows are so constructed 
— and all of them ought to be — that they can be 
lowered from the top. When this is not the case, 
something can be placed before the window to 
break the current, so that it need not fall directly 
upon the child. Closing the blinds will partially 
effect this, where blinds exist. 

I have known many an individual who was in 
the habit of sleeping with his windows open during 
the whole year, and without any obvious evil con- 
sequences. Dr. Gregory was of this habit. But 
if adults — not trained to it — can acquire such a 
habit with impunity, with how much more safety 
could children be trained to it from the very first 
year. Macnish says, '^ there can be no doubt that 
a gentle current pervading our sleeping apartments, 
is in the highest degree essential to health.'' 

This consideration — I mean the impurity of 
sleeping rooms, even after every preca^uion has 



SLEEP. 265 

Walking abroad in the dew. Feather beds. 

been used to keep them ventilated — affords one of 
the strongest inducements to going abroad early in 
the morning — especially when there is no other 
room which either adults or children can occupy — 
while the nursery or chamber is aired and venti- 
lated. The utility of rising early I hope no one 
can doubt ; but some have doubts of the propriety 
of going abroad, till the dew has " passed away." 
Such should be reminded, by the foregoing train of 
remarks, that early walking may be a choice of 
evils ; and that if it is on the whole advantageous 
to adults, it cannot be less so to children. And as 
soon as the sun has chased away the vapors of the 
night, if the weather is tolerable, most children 
should be carried abroad. 

Sec. 4. The Bed. 

This should never be of feathers. There are 
many reasons for this prohibition, especially to the 
feeble. 

1. They are too warm. Infants should by 
all means be kept warm enough, as I have all 
along insisted. But excess of heat excites or 
stimulates the skin, causing an unnatural degree 
of perspiration, and thus inducing weakness or 
debihty. 



266 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Evils of feather beds. Mattresses. Air beds. 

2. When we first enter a room in which is a 
feather bed which has been occupied during the 
night, we are struck with the offensive smell of the 
air. This is owing to a variety of causes ; one of 
which probably is that beds of this kind are better 
adapted to absorb and retain the effluvia of our 
bodies. But let the causes be what they may, 
the effects ought, if possible, to be avoided ; for 
both experience and authority combine to pro- 
nounce them very injurious. 

3. Feather beds — if used in the nursery — will 
inevitably discharge more or less of dust and down; 
both of which are injurious to the tt nder lungs of 
the infant. 

Mattresses are better for persons of every age, 
than soft feather beds. They may be made of 
horse hair or moss ; but hair is the best. If the mat- 
tress does not appear to be warm enough for the very 
young infant, a blanket may be spread over it. Dr. 
Dewees says that in case mattresses cannot be had, 
the ^^ sacking bottom" may be substituted, or ^^even 
the floor;" at least in warm weather: ^^for almost 
anything," he adds, ^'is preferable to feathers." 

Macnish, in his ^^ Philosophy of Sleep," objects 
strongly to air beds, and says that he can assert 
'^ from experience," that they are the very worst 
that can possibly be employed. My theories — for 



SLEEP. 267 



Beds of cut straw. Soft beds. Custom amons^ physicians. 

I have had no experience on the subject — would 
lead me to a similar conclusion, 

A British writer of eminence assures us that the 
higher classes in Ireland, to a considerable extent, 
accustom themselves and their infants to sleep on 
bags of cut straw, overspread with blankets and 
a light coverlid ; and that the custom is rapidly 
finding favor. I have slept on straw, both in 
winter and summer, for many years, yet I am 
always warm ; and those who know my habits say 
I use less covering on my bed than almost any 
individual whom they have ever known. 

I have no hostility to soft beds, especially for 
young children and feeble adults, could softness 
be secured without much heat and relaxation of 
the system. On the contrary, it is certainly 
desirable, in itself, to have the bed so soft that as 
large a proportion of the surface of the body may 
rest on it as possible. But I consider hardness as 
a much smaller evil than feathers. 

It is worthy of remark how generally physicians, 
for the last hundred vears, have recommended 
hard beds, especially straw beds or hair mattresses, 
to their more feeble and delicate patients. This 
fact might at least quiet our apprehensions in 
regard to their tendency on those who are accus- 
tomed to them in early infancy. 



268 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

The pillow. Dampness. Danger from lightning. 

Some writers on these subjects appear to doubt 
whether, after all that they say, they shall have 
much influence with mothers, in inducing them to 
give up feather beds for their infants. But they 
need not be so faithless. Multitudes have already 
been reformed by their writings ; and multitudes 
larger still would be so, could they gain access to 
them. It is a most serious evil, that they are often 
so written and published that comparatively few 
mothers will ever possess them. 

The pillow, as well as the bed, should be rather 
hard ; and its thickness should be much less than is 
usual, or we shall do mischief by bending the neck, 
and thus compressing the vessels, and obstructing 
the circulation of the blood. But on this subject I 
will say more, when I come to treat on " posture.'^ 

The child's bed should not be placed near the 
wall, on account of dampness. There is also, 
during the summer, another reason. Should light- 
ning strike the house, it will be much more apt 
to injure those who are near the wall than other 
persons ; as it seldom leaves the wall to pass over 
the central part of the room. 

Curtains are not only useless, but injurious. 
They prevent a free circulation of the air. Every- 
thing which has this tendency must be studiously 
guarded against in the management of infants. 



SLEEP. 269 

Warming our beds. Sleeping after the sick. 

Nothing is more injurious to the old or the 
young, than damp beds and damp covering. It 
behoves, especially, all those who have the care 
of infants, to see that everything about their beds 
is thoroughly dry. The walls and clothes should 
also be dry ; and wet clothes should never be 
hung up in the room. By neglecting these pre- 
cautions, colds, rheumatisms, inflammations, fevers, 
consumptions, and death, may ensue. Many a 
person loses his health, and not a few their lives, 
in this way. The author of this work was once 
thrown into a fever from such a cause. 

Warming the bed is, in all cases, a bad prac- 
tice. While in the nursery, if the air be kept at 
a proper temperature, there will be no need of it ; 
after the child is assigned to a separate chamber, 
its enervating tendency would result in more evil 
than good. It is better to let the bed become 
gradually heated by the body, in a natural and 
healthy way. 

No person, and above all, no infant, should be 
suffered to sleep in a bed that has been recently 
occupied by the sick. The bed and all the clothes 
should first be thoroughly aired. Could we see 
with our eyes at once, how rapidly these bodies 
of ours fill the air, and even the beds we sleep 
in, wdth carbonic acid and other hurtful gases and 



m 






270 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Light coverinti the best. Covering- too closely. 

impurities, even while in health, but much more 
so in sickness, we should be cautious of exposing 
the lungs of the tender infant, in such an atmos- 
phere, until everything had been properly cleansed, 
and the apartments properly ventilated. 

Sec. 5. The Covering. 

The covering of the bed should be sufficiently 
warm, but never any warmer than is absolutely 
necessary to protect the child from chilliness. The 
lightest covering which wdll secure this object is 
the best. Perhaps there is nothing in use that, 
with so little weight, secures so much heat as what 
are called " comfortables." 

The clothes should not be ^' tucked up" at the 
sides and foot of the bed with too much care and 
exactness. For when the bed is once warmed 
thoroughly with the child's body, the admission of 
a little fresh air into it, when he elevates or other- 
wise moves his limbs, can do no harm, but may do 
much of good, in the way of ventilation. I deem 
it important, moreover, to inure children very early 
to little partial exposures of this kind. 

Those mothers who, from over-tenderness and 
want of correct information on the subject, pursue 
a contrary course, and consider it as almost certain 



SLEEP. 271 

Case of a mother. Covering the head during the night. 

death to have a particle of fresh air reach the 
bodies of their infants during their slumbers, are 
generally sure to outwit themselves, and defeat 
their very intentions. For by being thus tender 
of their children, it often turns out that whenever 
the mother is ill, or on any other account ceases 
to watch over them — and such times must, in 
general, sooner or later come — they are much 
more liable to take cold, or sustain other injury, 
should they be exposed, than if they had been 
treated more rationally. 

I knew a mother who w^ould not trust her chil- 
dren to take care of their own beds on retiring to 
rest, as long as they remained in her house, even 
though they were twenty or thirty years old. But 
they had no better or firmer constitutions than the 
other children of the same neighborhood. 

Hardly anything can be more injurious than 
covering the head with the bed clothes ; and yet 
some mothers and nurses cover, in this way, not 
only their own heads, but those of their children. 
I have elsewhere shown how impure the air is, 
which is imprisoned under the bed clothes. I 
hope those mothers who are willing to destroy 
themselves by covering up their heads while thej 
sleep, w^ill at least have mercy on their unoffend- 
ing infants. 



272 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Few night clothes. Caps. Stockings. 

Sec. 6. Night Dresses. 

The grand rule on this point is, to wear as little 
dress during sleep as possible. Some mothers not 
only suffer their infants to sleep in the same shirt, 
cap and stockings that they have worn during the 
day, but add a night gown to the rest. 

No cap should be worn during the night, any 
more than in the day time. Or if the foolish prac- 
tice have been adopted for the day, it should be dis- 
continued at night. It is enough for those adults 
whose long hair would otherwise be dishevelled, 
to wear night caps, and subject themselves, as 
they inevitably do, to catarrh and periodical 
headache. Children's heads should have nothing 
on them by night, or even by day, except to 
defend them from the rain, or the hot rays of the 
sun. 

The stockings, too, should be wholly laid aside 
at night, unless in the case of those who are feeble, 
apt to have their feet cold, or particularly liable to 
bowel complaints. Such may be allowed to sleep 
in their stockings, but not in those which have 
been worn all the day. 

Indeed, neither children nor adults should ever 
wear a single garment in the night which they 
have worn during the day. The reason is, that 



SLEEP. 273 



Dress should be loose during sleep. A caution. 

there are too many causes of impurity in operation 
while we sleep, without our wearing the clothes in 
which we have been perspiring during the day- 
time ; and which must be already more or less 
filled with the effluvia of our bodies. 

It is a very easy thing to have a loose night 
gown to supply the place of the shirt w^e have 
worn during the day ; and if nothing else is con- 
venient, a spare shirt will answer. But a night 
gown and shirt both should never be admitted, 
especially in warm weather. The garment to 
supply the place of the shirt during the night, 
may be of calico in the summer, and of flannel in 
the winter. 

The collar and wristbands of this night dress 
should be loose ; and the whole garment should 
be large and long. No article of dress should 
ever press upon our bodies, so as in the least to 
impede the circulation ; and for this reason it is, 
that writCFs on physical education have inveighed 
so much against cravats, straps, garters, he. This 
caution, so important to all, is doubly so to young 
mothers, on whom devolves the management of 
the tender infant. 

When the child has been perspiring freely 
during the evening, just before he is undressed, or 
when he has just been subjected to the warm bath, 
18 



*w 



274 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Sleeping on the back. On the right side. 

it may be well to use a little care in undressing, 
and exchanging clothes, to prevent taking cold ;• — 
though it should ever be remembered, that those 
children who are managed on a rational system 
will bear slight exposures with far more safety, 
than they who have been managed at random; 
sometimes, indeed, with great tenderness, but at 
others wholly neglected. 

Sec. 7. Posture of the Body. 

In early infancy, children who are not stuffed 
rather than fed, may occasionally be permitted to 
sleep on their backs, especially if they incline to 
do so. But it will be well to encourage them to 
sleep on one side, as soon as you can without 
great inconvenience. 

The right side, as a general rule, is preferable ; 
because the stomach, which lies towards the left 
side, is thus left uncompressed, and digestion un- 
disturbed. I would not, however, require a child 
to lie always on the right side, but would occa- 
sionally change his position, lest he should be- 
come unable to sleep at all, except in a particular 
manner. 

I have said elsewhere, that the head ought to 
be a little raised, especially if the child is liable to 



SLEEP. 275 



Why the head should be a little raised. Diabetes. 

diseases of the brain. But this remark, rather 
hastily thrown out, requir^es explanation. 

There is so much more blood sent by the heart 
to the head and upper parts of the system of 
infants, as to predispose those parts, especially the 
brain, to disease. In a horizontal position of the 
body, there is more blood sent to the brain than 
when the body is erect. This will show the 
reader at once, that if the infant is peculiarly 
exposed to diseases of the brain — and it certainly 
is so — he ought to remain in a horizontal posture 
as little as possible, except during sleep ; and that 
even then it is desirable to make his bed in such 
a manner as to elevate the head and shoulders as 
much as we can without compressing the lungs, or 
obstructins: the circulation in the neck. 

I recommend, therefore, to raise the head of an 
infant's bedstead a Httle higher than the foot; 
though not so much as to incline him to slide 
downwards into the bed, for that would be to 
produce one evil in curing another. 

Sir Charles Bell thinks that the common dis- 
ease of infants, called diabetes, arises from their 
being permitted to sleep on their backs ; and that 
by breaking up the habit of lying in this position, 
and accustoming them to lie on their sides, we 
shall prevent it. I doubt whether the effect here 



276 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Darkening the sleeping room. Suggestion by Dr. Franklin. 

referred -to, is ever the result of such a cause. Still 
I am as much opposed tp the hahit of sleeping on 
the back, as Sir Charles Bell. It is quite injurious 
to free respiration. 

Closely allied to the subject of bodily position 
in general, is the state of particular organs, espe- 
cially the stomach and the senses. I have already 
intimated, that in order to have an infant sleep 
quietly, it is desirable to darken the room. This 
is the more necessary, where infants are unnatu- 
rally wakeful. In such cases, not only should 
light be excluded from the eye, but sounds from 
the ear, odors from the nostrils, &:c. A remark- 
a:bly full stomach is in the way of going quietly 
to sleep, whether the person be old or young. 
Neither infants nor adults ought to take food for 
some time previous to their going to sleep for the 
night. Great bodily heat, as well as too great 
cold, is also unfavorable. If too hot, the tempera- 
ture of the infant should be somewhat reduced by 
exposure to the air; if too cold, it should be raised 
in a natural, healthy and appropriate manner. 

Sec. 8. State of the Mind. 

In giving directions how to procure pleasant 
dreams, Dr. Franklin mentions as a highly impor- 



SLEEP. 277 



Children's crying themselves to sleep. An excellent father. 

tant requisition, the possession of a quiet con- 
science — a wise prescription, no doubt. 

But infants, as well as adults, in order to sleep 
quietly, should have their minds and feelings in a 
state of tranquillity. The youngest child has its 
"troubles;" and it is highly important, if not in- 
dispensable, to healthy sleep, that the mother take 
all reasonable pains to remove them before sleep 
is induced. 

We sometimes hear about children's crying 
themselves to sleep, as if it were a matter of no 
consequence ; and sometimes as if it were, on the 
contrary, rather desirable. But is the sleep of an 
adult satisfying, who goes to bed in trouble, and 
only sleeps because nature is so exhausted that 
she cannot bear the protracted watchfulness any 
longer ? Why then should we expect it, in the 
case of the infant ? 

I know an excellent father who is so far from 
believing this doctrine, that he silences the cries of 
his child by the word of command ; and believes 
that in so doing, he promotes both his health and 
his happiness. He would no more let him cry 
himself to sleep, than he would let him cough 
himself to sleep ; though both crying and cough- 
ing, in their places, may be and undoubtedly are 
salutary. 



278 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Soundness of sleep. Do we dream in sound sleep ? 

Whatever may be the age and circumstances of 
an individual, he ought to retire for rest with a 
cheerful mind. All anxiety about the future, all 
regret about the past, all plans even, in regard to 
the business or amusement of the morrow, should 
be kept wholly out of the mind. We should 
yield ourselves up to the arms of sleep with the 
same quietude as if Hfe were finished, and we had 
nothing more to do ar think of. 

Sec. 9. (Quality of Sleep. 

The soundness, as well as other qualities of 
sleep, differs greatly in different individuals ; and 
even in the same night, with the same individual 
in different circumstances. The first four or five 
hours of sleep are usually more sound than the 
remainder. Hardly anything will interrupt the 
repose of some persons during the early part of 
the night, while they awake afterwards at the 
slightest noise or movement — the chirping of a 
cricket, or the playing of a kitten. 

In profound sleep, we probably dream very 
little, if at all ; but in other circumstances, we 
are constantly disturbed by dreaming, and some- 
times start and wake in the greatest anxiety or 
horror. 




SLEEP. 279 

Nightmare. Its causes. Causes of distressing dreams. 

Nightmare is generally accompanied by dreams 
of the most distressing kind. We imagine a wild 
beast, or a serpent in pursuit of us ; or a rock is 
detached from some neighboring cliff, and is about 
to roll upon and crush us ; and yet all our efforts 
to fly are unavailing. We seem chained to the 
spot; but while in the very jaws of destruction, 
perhaps we awake, trembling, and palpitating, and 
weary, as if something of a serious nature had 
really happened. 

In the case of nightmare, it is more than pro- 
bable that we fall asleep with our stomachs too 
heavily loaded with food, or with a smaller quan- 
tity of that which is highly indigestible. Or it 
may sometimes arise from an improper position of 
the body, such as disturbs the action of the stom- 
ach or lungs, or of both these organs. Lying on 
the back, when we first go to sleep, is very apt to 
produce nightmare. 

But distressino; dreams often follow an evenino; 
of anxious cares, especially if those cares preyed 
upon us for the last half hour; and also after late 
suppers, even if they are light ; and late reading. 
Hence the injunctions of the last section. Hence, 
too, the importance of taking our last meal two or 
three hours before sleep, and of engaging, during 
these hours, in cheerful conversation, and in the 



flp' 



280 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

What amount of sleep is healthiest. Waking- at a fixed hour. 

social and private duties of religion. Family and 
private worship, in the evening, are enjoined no 
less by philosophy than they are by Christianity; 
and every young mother will do well to under- 
stand this matter, and train her offspring accord- 
ingly. 

" That sleep from which we are easily roused, is 
the healthiest," says Macnish. " Very profound 
slumber partakes of the nature of apoplexy." I 
should say, rather, that a medium between the two 
extremes is healthiest. Profound apoplectic sleep, 
I am sure, is injurious ; but that from which we 
are too easily roused cannot, it seems to me, be 
less so. Thus I have often gone to sleep with a 
resolution to wake at a certain hour, or at the 
striking of the clock ; and have found myself able 
to wake at the proposed time, almost without one 
failure in twenty instances where I have made the 
trial. But my sleep was obviously unsound, and 
certainly unsatisfying. The desire to awake at a 
certain moment or period seemed to buoy me 
above the usual state of healthy sleep, and render 
me liable to awake at the slightest disturbance. 
Were it not for sacrificing the ease of others, it 
would be far better, in such cases, to rely upon 
some person to wake us, instead of charging our 
own minds with it. 



SLEEP. 281 

Extremes to be avoided. Of sleep before midnight. 

The quality of our sleep will be greatly affected 
by the quantity. But this thought, if extended, 
would anticipate the subject of our next section ; 
so easily does one thing, especially in physical 
education, run into or involve another. 1 will, 
therefore, for the present, only say, that if we con- 
fine ourselves to a smaller number of hours than 
is really required, our sleep becomes too sound to 
be quite healthy, as if nature endeavored to make 
up in quality, for want of due quantity. On the 
contrary, if we attempt to sleep longer than is 
really necessary to restore us, the quality of our 
sleep is not what it ought to be ; for we do not 
sleep soundly enough. 

The silence and darkness of the night tend to 
induce sleep of a better quality than the noise and 
activity of day. It is unquestionably desirable that 
children should be able to sleep, at least occasion- 
ally, without absolute quiet. And yet such sleep 
cannot be sufficiently sound to answer the pur- 
poses of health, if frequently repeated. 

Hence it is perhaps — at least in part — that the 
maxim has obtained currency, that one hour of 
sleep before midnight is worth two afterward. 
The comparison has probably been made between 
the quiet and darksome hours of evening and those 
which follow daybreak, when light, and music. 






282 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Sleep in infancy. In maturity. In old age. 

and bustle conspire, as they should, to make us 
wakeful. No person can sleep as soundly and 
as effectually, when light reaches his closed eyes, 
and sounds strike his ears, as in darkness and 
silence. He may sleep, indeed, under almost 
any circumstances, when fatigue and exhaustion 
demand it ; but never so profoundly as when in 
absolute abstraction of light, and complete quiet. 

Sec. 10. Quantity. 

On this point much might be said, without 
exhausting the subject. But I have already 
observed that infants, when first born, require to 
sleep nearly their whole time. As they advance 
in years, the necessity for sleep, however, dimin- 
ishes, until they come to maturity, when it remains 
for many years nearly stationary. In advanced 
age, the necessity for sleep again increases, till 
we reach the extremest old age, or what is usually 
called second childhood, when we again sometimes 
sleep nearly the whole time. 

I have already remarked that much might be 
said on this subject ; but I do not think that the 
present occasion requires it. If the suggestions 
which are made in the chapter on " Early Rising" 
should receive the attention I flatter myself they 



SLEEP. 283 

Examples of little sleep. Case of Gen. Elliot. 

merit, I do not believe children would often sleep 
too long. If, on the contrary, they are suffered to 
lie late in the morning, and then sit up late in the 
evening, all healthful habits and tendencies will 
be so deranged or broken up, that nature, in her 
indications, will by no means prove the unerring 
guide which she is wont to do in other circum- 
stances. 

A few thoughts here, on the quantity of sleep 
required by the young after they approach ma- 
turity, may not be misplaced. 

Jeremy Taylor thought that for a healthy adult, 
three hours in twenty-four were enough for all 
the purposes of sleep. Baxter thought four hours 
about a reasonable time ; Wesley, six ; Lord Coke 
and Sir Wm. Jones, seven ; and Sir John Sinclair, 
eight. These were the theories of men who were 
all eminent for their learning, and most of them for 
their piety. How far their jprac^ice corresponded 
with their theories, we are not, in every instance, 
told. 

But to come to the practice of several persons 
who have been distinguished in the world. Gen- 
eral Elliot, one of the most vigorous men of his 
age, though living for his whole life on nothing but 
vegetables and water, and who at sixty-four had 



284 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Conclusion of the writer. Contradiction of Macnish. 

scarcely begun to feel the infirmities of old age, 
slept but four hours in twenty -four. Frederick 
the Great of Prussia, and the illustrious British 
surgeon, John Hunter, slept but five hours a day. 
Napoleon Bonaparte, for a great part of his life, 
slept only four hours ; and Lord Brougham is said 
to require no more. Others, in numerous instances, 
require but six hours. But there are others still, 
who consume eight. 

The conclusion — in my own mind — is, that with 
a good consthution and active habits, men may 
habituate themselves to very different quantities of 
sleep. Still I think that six hours are little enough 
for most persons ; and if a child on arriving at 
maturity was not inclined to sleep much longer 
than that, I should not regard him as wasting time. 
Most persons, it appears to me, require six hours 
of sound sleep in twenty-four ; — I mean between 
the ages of twenty and seventy. 

Macnish is the most liberal modern writer I am 
acquainted with, in his allowance of time for sleep. 
Speaking of the wants of adults, he says — ^^ No 
person who passes only eight hours in bed can be 
said to waste his time in sleep." Yet he obviously 
contradicts himself on the very same page ; for he 
says expressly, that when a person is young, strong 



SLEEP. 285 

The difference between six hours and eight hours. 

and healthy, an hour or two less may be sufficient. 
But an hour or two less than eight hours reduces 
the amount to seven or six hours. And taking the 
whole period of life to which he probably refers 
— say from eighteen to forty — into consideration, 
there is a very considerable difference between six 
hours and eight hours a day. If six hours are 
^' sufficient," it cannot be right to sleep eight 
hours. 

Let us here make • a few estimates. If six 
hours are sufficient for sleep between the ages of 
eighteen and forty, he who sleeps eight hours a 
day actually loses 16,060 hours ; equal to nearly 
two whole years of life ; or about two years and 
three quarters of time in which we are usually 
awake. This, in the meridian of life, is not a 
small w^aste. Permit it to every person now in 
the United States, and the sum total of w^asted 
time, to a single generation, would be 25,649,098 
years ; equal to the average duration of the lives 
of 854,970 persons. The value of this time as 
a commodity in the market, at a low estimate — 
only forty dollars a year — would be over a thou- 
sand MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ! And its valuc, for 
the purposes of mental and moral improvement, 
cannot be estimated, except in eternity ! 



-0 

286 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Too much sleep a waste. Too little not healthy. 

Every young mother must derive from these 
considerations a motive to discourage all unneces- 
sary waste of time in sleep ; v^^hile no one, as I 
trust, v^ill forget that to sleep too little is also dan- 
gerous to health, and prejudicial to the general 
happiness. 



CHAPTER XV. 



EARLY RISING. 



All children naturally early risers. 



Some writer — I do not recollect who — has said 
that all children are naturally early risers. And I 
cannot help coming to the same conclusion. That 
they are not so, is no more proved from the fact, 
that as things now are, they are generally found 
addicted to the contrary habit, than the very gen- 
eral neglect of milk among the higher classes of 
our citizens, proves that they have not a natural 
relish for it ; when every one knows that at our 
first setting out in life, milk is, almost without 
exception, the sole article of human sustenance. 

One of the great difficulties in the way of early 
rising, as I have already had occasion to say, is 
late sitting up. If children are not accustomed to 
retire till nine or ten o'clock, nor then until they 
have been subjected to all the excitements per- 
taining to fashionable life — company, heated and 
impure air, stimulating drink, fruits, high-seasoned 
food, and perhaps music — and are become actually 
feverish; no one but an ignorant person or a brute 



■1^ 

288 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Inducements to early rising. Example of our friends. 

ought to expect them to rise early. Indeed, what- 
ever may have been the cause, and whether it 
have operated on high or low life, late retiring will 
inevitably result in late rising. The current may 
be turned out of its course a little while, it is true ; 
but not always. It will ere long return to its 
accustomed channel ; perhaps to renew its course 
with increased pertinacity. 

Everything, in the morning, naturally invites to 
early rising. The pleasant light, the music, at 
certain seasons, of some of the animated tribes, 
and the joy which w^e feel in activity, and in the 
society of those whom we love, all conspire to 
rouse us. If we have retired late, however, and 
especially in a feverish condition, so that w^hen 
we wake we feel wretched, and, as sometimes 
happens, more fatigued than when we lay down, 
other collateral motives may be needed. 

I have said that everything invites us, in the 
morning, to rise early ; but it was upon the pre- 
sumption that our parents, and brothers, and sisters 
set us a good example. If parents and other 
friends lie in bed late themselves, can anything 
else be expected of children? Admitting even 
that they rise early themselves, if they never 
speak of early rising as a pleasure, and connect 
along with it, in their children's minds, pleasant 



EARLY RISING. 289 



Discouraging children from early rising. 



associations, they would be unreasonable to expect 
otherwise than that their children should cling to 
the morning couch, till they are fairly compelled 
to rise as a relief from pain and uneasiness. 

But when parents go farther than this, and 
actually discourage their children from rising early, 
and use every means in their power short of actual 
punishment — and sometimes even that — to make 
them lie still till breakfast, in order that they may 
be out of the way, what shall we say ? And what 
is to be expected as the result ? 

There is hope, however, under the last circum- 
stances. People sometimes carry things to an 
extreme that defeats their very purposes. Thus 
it occasionally is, in the case before us. This 
forbidding children to rise early, and threatening 
them if they do, sometimes excites their curiosity, 
and leads them to the forbidden course of conduct, 
simply because it is forbidden. Not a few persons 
among us possess the disposition to be governed 
by what has sometimes been called the ^' rule of 
contrary." 

I might stop here to show, that there is nothing 
so well calculated to develope and improve the 
mind and heart, even of parents themselves, as the 
society of those whom God gives them to train for 
him and their country. I might show, that not a 
19 



290 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

■ ■ . ■ ■ ■ >. 

Why the young dislike the old. Parental errors. 

few of those traits of character which render the 
company of many old persons rather irksome, 
especially to the young, have their origin in their 
neglect of the young, and of keeping up, as long 
as ciixjumstances will possibly admit, juvenile feel- 
ings, actions and habits. 

And yet what do we too often witness in life ? 
Is not every effort made to iaduce the young to 
lie in bed late, that they may be out of the way ? 
Are they not placed, as soon as possible after they 
are up, with the servants — if unfortunately there 
are any in the family — that they may be out of 
the way ? Are they not required to breakfast, and 
dine, and sup elsewhere, if possible, that they 
may be out of the way ? Do we not send them 
to school, even the Sabbath school, to get them 
out of the way ? Do not some mothers even dose 
their infants with stupifying medicines, to lull them 
to sleep, in order to have them out of the way ? 
And to crown all, though they are quite too often 
permitted to sit up late in the evening, to enjoy- 
that society which they are denied so great a part 
of the daytime, are they not occasionally put to 
bed early, that they may be out of the way, and 
that the parents may attend late parties, to indulge 
in immoral or unhealthy habits ? 



EARLY RISING. 291 



Burning of children. Lecturing them. 

^.^ . — ,^ — _ , . -mm- 

In the last irrstance, they are indeed sometimes 
put out of the way, in the result ; and with a 
vengeance. Many a child, nay, many thousands 
of children, are burnt up yearly, while their parents 
are gone abroad in the evening in quest of that 
enjoyment which ought to be found in the bosom 
of their families. '^ In Westminster, a part of 
London, containing less than two hundred thou- 
sand inhabitants, one hundred children w^ere thus 
destroyed during a single year." And the moral 
results which occasionally happen are a thousand 
times worse than burning. But enough of this. 

The common practice of lecturing the young on 
the importance of early rising, may have a good 
effect on a few ; but in general it is believed to 
produce the contrary result. It is, in short, to 
sum up the whole matter, the influence of parental 
example, and the speaking often of the happiness 
which early rising affords, with perhaps the occa- 
sional indulgence of the child in a pleasant morning 
walk, which, if he retires early enough, are almost 
certain to produce in him the valuable habit of 
early rising. 

But what is an early hour ? Some call it early, 
when the sun is one hour high ; some at sunrise ; 
others, when they hear of an early riser, suppose he 
must be one who rises at least by day-break. 



292 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

What is an early hour for rising ? Error of Macnish. 

Midnight is, of course, as near the middle of the 
night as any hour ; and he who goes to bed four 
or five hours before midnight, will never complain 
of those who insist that he is not an early riser who 
is not up by four or five o'clock. In summer, no 
adult ought to lie in bed after four o'clock, and no 
child, except the mere infant, after five. 

Much is said by a few writers, especially Mac- 
nish, of the danger of rising before the sun has 
attained a sufficient height above the horizon to 
chase away the vapors and remove the dampness. 
But I must insist upon earlier rising than this, 
though we should not choose to venture abroad. 
Invigorated and restored as we are by sleep, I 
cannot think that the dampness of the morning air 
is more injurious than the foul air of some of our 
sleeping rooms. 



CHAPTER XVI, 



HARDENING THE CONSTITUTION. 

Exposure with a view to harden. Its danger. 

While T have been very particular in enjoining 
on my readers the importance of thoroughly venti- 
lating their dwellings, I have also insisted upon the 
necessity of taking children abroad, as much as 
possible. Not, however, to harden them, so much 
as to give them a more free access to air and light 
than they can have at home ; and also — when they 
are old enough — to cultivate the faculties of atten- 
tion, comparison, &c. 

The practice of attempting to harden children 
by frequent exposure to air much colder than that 
to which they have been accustomed, without 
sufficient additional clothing, is open to the same 
objections which have been brought against cold 
bathing. Under the management of a judicious 
medical practitioner, it may do great good to a 
few constitutions ; but its indiscriminate use would 
injure a thousand infants for one who was bene- 
6ted. 



294 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Suffering- by cold to harden ourselves. Anecdote of Scotland, 

True it is that if the child is protected against 
cold, no harm, but on the contrary much good may- 
result from carrying him abroad into the fresh air, 
even in very cold weather. But what can be 
more painful than to see the little sufferers carried 
along when their limbs are purple, or benumbed 
with cold ? And how idle it is to hope that such 
exposure hardens or improves the constitution ! 

It is on the same mistaken principle that many 
adults go thinly clad, late in the fall. I have seen 
men in November and December beating and rub- 
bing their hands, who, on being asked why they 
did not wear mittens, replied, that if they should 
wear one pair of mittens so early in the season, 
they should want two in the winter. 

Now I cheerfully admit that to put on additional 
clothing before the severity of the weather de- 
mands it, actually produces the effect here sup- 
posed ; but to endure severe cold, on the contrary, 
never hardens anybody. Nay, more, it enfeebles. 
Cold, when combined with the evils of poverty ^ 
produces more mischief and destroys more lives 
than any one disease in the whole catalogue of 
human maladies. 

Adam Smith says that it is not uncommon for 
mothers in the Highlands of Scotland, who have 
borne twenty children, to have only two of them 
alive. 



HARDENING THE CONSTITUTION. 295 

Extremes. Anecdote from Dr. Dewees. 

■■ »»» ■ ' ' .1.1 I . . 

It may be difficult to say whether children are 
oftenest destroyed by over-tenderness, or by neglect, 
and the evils incident to poverty. Both extremes 
are common ; while the happy medium — that of 
conducting a child's education upon the principles 
of physiology, is rarely known, and still more 
rarely followed. 

I have been much amused, and not a little 
instructed, by the following anecdote on this point, 
from Dr. Dewees : 

We were speaking with a lady who had lost 
three or four children with ^^ croup," who informed 
us she was convinced, from absolute experiment, 
that there was nothing like exposure to all kinds 
of weather to protect and harden the system. By 
her first plan of managing her children, which was 
by keeping them very warmly clad, she said, 
she lost several by the croup ; but since she had 
adopted the opposite scheme, her children had 
been perfectly healthy, and never had betrayed 
the slightest disposition to that terrible disease 
which had robbed her of her other children. 

Perhaps, madam, we observed, you did not, in 
making your first experiments, attend to a number 
of details which might be thought essential to the 
plan. You did not probably take the proper pre- 



296 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Dressmg too warm. Cooling suddenly. Stimulating drinks. 

cautions when you sent them into the cold air, or 
observe what was important for them when they 
returned from it. 

" Oh, yes," she replied, " I took every possible 
care when they were going out. I always made 
them wear a very warm great coat, well Hned with 
baize, and a fur cape or collar. I always made 
them wear a ^comfortable' round their necks, 
made of soft woollen yarn. And as for their feet, 
they were always protected by socks or over-shoes 
lined with wool or fur, as the weather might be 
wet or dry." 

Do you believe, madam, they were kept at a 
proper degree of warmth by these means ? 

" Oh, certainly. Indeed, rather too warm ; for 
they would often be in a state of perspiration, 
they told me, when in the open air ; especially if 
they ran, shd or skated." 

And what was done when they were thus 
heated ? 

"Oh, they got cool enough before they reached 
home." 

And would they receive no injury in passing 
from this state of perspiration to that of chill ? 

" Not at all ; for when this happened, I always 
made them take a little warm brandy, or wine and 



HARDENING THE CONSTITUTION. 297 

Sleeping- in a warm room. A different course. 

water, and made them toast their feet well by the 
fire."=^ 

Did they sleep in a cold or warm room ? 

" In a warm room. A good fire was always 
made in the stove before they went to bed, which 
kept them quite warm all night.^' 

Would they never complain of being cold to- 
wards morning, when the stove had become cold ? 

" Yes, certainly ; but then there were always at 
hand additional bed-clothes, with which they could 
cover themselves.'' 

And' did they always do it ? 

" Oh, I suppose so." 

Well, madam, how did you carry your second 
plan into execution, which you say was attended 
with such happy results ? 

'^ I began by not letting them put on their great 
coats, except w^hen the w^eather was so cold as to 
require this additional covering, and did not per- 
mit them to wear a ^comfortable' or fur round 
their necks. I took away their over-shoes ; and 
if their feet chanced to get wet, (for they were 
always provided with good sound shoes,) the 



* This absurd custom is a fruitful source of that dis- 
tressing condition of the hands and feet, in winter, called 
"chilblains." 



298 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



Success of the new plan. Course with mere infants. 



shoes were immediately changed, if they were at 
home. If the weather was wet, or unusually 
cold, they were permitted to wear their great 
coats ; but not without. If they came home very 
cold, they were not allowed to approach the fire 
too soon. I gave them no warm, heating drinks, 
and accustomed them to sleep in rooms without 
fire." 

Who does not recognize, in this second plan for 
the enjoyment of air and exercise, as judicious a 
plan of physical education, so far as it goes, as can 
well be pointed out ? We were so successful as 
to convince this lady, in a very short time, that 
our own plan of exposing the body was precisely 
the one she had pursued with so much success. 

We also inquired of her what plan she pursued 
with her children, when too young to be submitted 
to the rules just mentioned. She informed us that 
it was the same system throughout, only the de- 
tails varied as circumstances of age, &:c. made it 
necessary. That is,, she sent her children into the 
open air at very early periods of their lives, pro- 
vided in summer it was neither too wet nor too 
warm ; in winter, when the air was mild, dry and 
clear — but always carefully wrapped up, that their 
little extremities might not suffer from cold. She 
never suffered them to sleep in the open air, if it 



HARDENING THE CONSTITUTION. 299 

Keeping the feet dry. How the feeble were treated. 

couid be avoided ; to prevent which, as much as 
possible, she constantly charged the nurse to bring 
the children home, as soon as she found them dis- 
posed to sleep, unless it was when they were very 
young, at which time it was impossible to guard 
against it. 

And when her children were sufficiently old to 
walk, she took care to prepare them properly for 
it, whether it might be in warm, cold, or moderate 
weather. She never sent them abroad for plea- 
sure, at the risk of encountering a storm of any 
kind ; nor permitted them to walk at the hazard 
of getting wet or very muddy feet. 

Were the constitutions of your children pretty 
much the same ? we demanded of this lady. 

" No ; one of my boys was extremely feeble, 
from his very birth." 

Did you treat him precisely as you did the 
others ? 

" Yes, as far as regarded principles ; that is, I 
permitted him to bear as much of cold, heat or 
wet as his constitution would endure without pain 
or injury. The degrees, however, were very dif- 
ferent from those his brothers bore, had they been 
determined by the measurement of the thermome- 
ter, but precisely the same in effect, as far as could 



300 



THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



The feeble require more clothing- than the robust. 



be ascertained by consequences. Thus, if he 
were exposed to the same temperature as his 
brothers, he experienced no more inconvenience 
from it, when it was very low, than they, because 
he had additional covering to protect him." 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SOCIETY. 



Duty of mothers^ on this point. Children need society. 

Every mother is unquestionably as much bound 
to have an eye to the society of her child, as to his 
food, drink or clothing. And if the quality, amount 
and general character of the latter are important, 
those of the former are by no means less so. 

It is indeed true that many a child has been 
happy, in a degree, in the society of its mother 
alone, where the father was seldom seen, and the 
brothers and sisters never. And it is equally true, 
that a few children have so far preferred the 
society of their parents alone, as to become disin- 
clined to other society. But cases of this kind 
are only as exceptions to the general rule ; and 
are probably monstrous formations of character. I 
cannot believe that any child, rightly educated, 
would prefer the society of none but its parents, 
or even its parents and brothers and sisters. 

A French author has written a considerable 
volume on the importance of what he calls gaiety ^ 
but which we should prefer to call cheerfulness. 



302 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Excess of society. Not so bad as the contrary extreme. 

II ■ ■■ ■ «p«>.. 

Among the rest, he maintains that it is indispensa- 
ble to the best health. But if so — and I do not 
doubt it — then it ought to be encouraged in chil- 
dren ; and the earlier the better. Now there is no 
way to encourage cheerfulness in the young so 
effectually as by indulging them with considerable 
society. 

That the thing may be carried to excess, I have 
no doubt. I have seen mothers who permitted 
their children to play with their mates, till they 
became excited, and were thus led to continue 
their sports, not only farther than cheerfulness and 
health demanded, bi:ft until they were excessively 
fatigued, and almost made sick. And I believe 
that the excitement of numbers, in infant and 
other schools, may be so great as to be injurious, 
rather than salutary. Still I think that these are 
rare cases. 

Truth usually lies somewhere between extremes. 
To keep a child, especially a boy, always in the 
nursery, or even in the parlor with his mother, is 
one extreme ; and to let him go abroad continually 
till his home and its smaller circle become insipid, 
is the other. A child properly trained will usually 
prefer home; and only desire to go abroad occa- 
sionally. He will ratlier need urging in the matter 
than require restraint. 



SOCIETY. 303 

Necessity of society. Society of the mother the first thing. 

But he must, at any rate, be taught to be socia- 
ble, not only for the sake of cheerfukiess and the 
consequent health, but for the sake of his manners, 
his mind, and his morals. 

If it is a matter of indifference, in the formation 
of human character, whether we mix in society or 
not, then, for anything I can see, an improvement 
might be proposed in the construction of the mate- 
rial universe. Instead of forming the planets so 
large — and this earth among the rest — each might 
have been divided into hundreds of milhons ; and 
every human being might have had a little planet, 
and an immortality, exclusively his own. Such an 
arrangement would certainly prevent a great many 
evils ; and, among the rest, a great deal of quar- 
relling and bloodshed. 

But divine wisdom is higher than human wis- 
dom ; and one world to hundreds of millions of 
human beings has been made, instead of giving to 
each individual of the universe a little world of his 
own, in which he might have reigned sole mon- 
arch, and only wept, with Alexander, because 
none of the other worlds were within his grasp. 

Where a family is already large, other society 
will be unnecessary for some time ; but where it 
consists of a mother only, although her society is 
always to be considered of the Jirst importance, 



304 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Diffidence of children. Selecting companions. A hint. 

I cannot but think she ought to take great pains to 
introduce her child occasionally to the company of 
other children. 

That diffidence, which almost destroys the influ- 
ence and the happiness of many individuals, is 
often cherished if not created by too much seclu- 
sion. Where there is a natural constitution which 
predisposes the child to timidity and diffidence, the 
danger is greatly increased ; and parents should 
take unwearied pains to guard against it. 

It is hardly necessary for me to say, that great 
care should also be used in selecting the com- 
panions of children. Their character will be 
greatly influenced for life by their earlier asso- 
ciates. Friendships between children are some- 
times formed, while playing together, which are 
interrupted only by death. Those parents who 
are so fond of controlling the choice of their sons 
and daughters, in regard to a companion for life, at 
a period when control is generally resisted, would 
do well to take a hint from what has been here 
suggested. There is no doubt but they might 
often — very often — give such a direction to the 
embryo aflections of their infants and children, as 
would terminate only with their existence. 

It is still less necessary to advert, in a work like 
this, to the effect which much observation and 



SOCIETY. 305 



Moral purity. Tendency of schools exclusively for one sex. 

experience shows good society to have on purity, 
both physical and moral. Every one must have 
observed its tendency to form habits of cleanliness, 
not to say neatness. There may be excess, even 
in this. Young persons, of both sexes, often spend 
too much time in preparing their dress for the 
reception or the visiting of their friends. Still this 
is only the abuse of a good thing. Nor is it less 
true, though it may be less obvious, that moral 
purity is more likely to be secured, where children 
and youth of both sexes associate a great deal, 
from the earliest infancy.* There are tremendous 
cases of declension on record, which establish this 
point beyond the possibility of debate. 

To say that the mother — and indeed both pa- 
rents — ought to form a part of the playing circle 
of the youngest children, in order to watch their 
opening dispositions, to check what may be im- 
proper, and encourage what ought to be encour- 
aged, would be only to repeat what has often been 



* If this principle be correct, what is the tendency of 
our numerous schools, which are exclusively for one 
sex? Must there not be latent evil to counterbalance 
some of the seeming good ? For myself, I doubt whether 
moral character can ever be formed in due proportion 
and harmony, where this separation long exists. 
20 



306 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Mistake of parents. A hint at its correction. 

recommended by the best writers on education^ 
but which must be repeated, again and again, till 
it leaves an impression, especially on christian 
parents. It is strange that many regard this mat- 
ter as they do, and appear not only ashamed to 
be seen sporting with their children, but almost 
ashamed to have their children thus occupied. 
They might as well be ashamed of the gambols of 
the kitten or the lamb, or of the grave mother, as 
she turns aside occasionally to join in its frolics,. 
When will parents be willing to take lessons in 
education from that brute world which they have 
been so long accustomed to overlook or despise r, 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



EMPLOYMENTS. 



Influence of mothers in forming character. 



One important and never-to-be-forgotten em- 
ployment of the young, is the cultivation of their 
minds ; and another, that of their morals. But 
my present purpose is only to speak of those em- 
ployments denominated manual or physical. 

It is obvious, at the first glance, that the influ- 
ence of the mother, in our own country, at least, 
will be less over boys than over girls. We leave 
it to savages and semi-savages to employ their 
females, and even their mothers, in hard manual 
labor. Here, in America, what I should say on 
the employment of boys would be more properly 
addressed to the Young Father. 

There are some exceptions to the general truth 
contained in the last paragraph. Many a mother 
has— unconsciously at the time, but with no less 
certainty than if she had done it intentionally — 
given a direction to the whole current of her son's 
life ; and this, too, at a very early period. The 
mother of Benjamin West, the painter, if she did 



308 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

How West was made a painter. An anecdote. 

not give the first tendency to his favorite pursuit, 
while he v^as yet a mere child, at the least greatly 
confirmed him in it, by the manner of expressing 
her surprise at one of his early performances. 
'^ My mother's kiss," on that occasion, said he, 
/^ made me a painter." Nor are facts of the same 
general character by any means uncommon. 

I know a poor mother who, in the absence of 
her husband at his weekly or monthly labors, used 
to detain her eldest boy, then almost an infant, 
from going to bed in the evening till her day's 
work was finished — because, in her loneliness, 
she wanted his company — by telling stories of 
eminent men, and especially of distinguished phi- 
lanthropists, until she had unconsciously kindled 
in him a philanthropic spirit, which will not cease 
to burn till his death. 

But it is in forming the predilections of daugh- 
ters for their destined employments, that mothers 
are especially influential. Not so much by their 
set lessons or lectures, however, as by the force of 
continued example. No mother who sends her 
child away to be nursed, and subsequently to her 
return, seizes on every possible opportunity to keep 
her out of the way and out of her sight, will be 
likely to give her any choice of employment, or 
indeed any fondness for employment at all. 



EMPLOYMENTS. 309 



Female dislike of domestic employments. How it arises. 

Nor is it sufficient that she keep her daughter 
constantly under her eye, with a view to qualify 
her for the duties of a housewife, if the daughter 
see as plainly as in the light of mid-day, that the 
mother dislikes the employment herself. She 
must love what she would have her daughter love, 
and even what she w^ould have her understand. 
Nor is it sufficient that she affect a fondness for 
the employment; her^love for it must be real. 
Little girls have keener eyes and better judgments 
than some mothers seem willing to beheve or to 
admit. 

Many persons seem greatly surprised that the 
young ladies of modern days have so little fondness 
for domestic life and domestic duties. ^ How few, 
it is often said, will do their own house-work, if 
they can possibly get a train of domestics around 
them; even though the care and oversight of the 
domestics themselves wear them out more rapidly 
than bodily labor would. 

But there is a reason for this hostility to domes- 
tic employments. It is because mothers, almost 
universally, consider their occupations as mere 
drudgery, and bring up their children in the same 
spirit.. And what else could be expected as the 
result ? It would be an anomaly in the history of 
human nature, if the female members of families 



310 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Miserable housewives. How they are produced. 

were to grow up in love with ordinary domestic 
avocations, when they have been accustomed to 
see their mothers, and nurses, and elder sisters 
complaining and fretting while engaged in them ; 
and showing, by their actions, no less than by their 
words, that they regarded themselves as miserable 
and wretched. 

No wonder so many girls, of the present day, 
make miserable housewives. No wonder a factory, 
a book-bindery, or a shoemaker's shop, is con- 
sidered preferable to the kitchen. No wonder the 
world degenerates, because females, no longer 
healthfully employed, become pale and sickly, 
spreading gloom and misery all around them, and 
transmitting the same ills which themselves suffer 
to those who come after them. 

It is true, the guilt of this dereliction must not 
be charged wholly on mothers ; though they ought, 
unquestionably, to bear a large share of it. Those 
w^io have, and ought to have, much influence in 
society, erroneously, and I suppose thoughtlessly, 
help mothers along in their evil ways. If there 
were a universal combination between certain 
classes of mankind and the whole race of mothers, 
to ruin, rather than be instrumental of reforming 
mankind, and of saving their deathless souls, I 
hardly know how they could invent a much better. 



EMPLOYMENTS. 311 



Mistake of those who lead the fashions. Mr. Flint's opinion. 

or at least a much more certain plan, than that 
now in operation. So long as those who take the 
lead in society , and govern the fashion in this 
matter, as others govern it in the matter of dress, 
refuse, as a general rule, to form alliances for life, 
except with those who practically despise house- 
hold concerns, — and so long as our houses are 
filled with domestics, whose object is to aid these 
spoiled mothers, but whose real effect is to com- 
plete their ruin, and accelerate the ruin of man- 
kind, — -just so long will human progress towards 
perfection be retarded. 

If mothers were in love with their occupations, 
and their daughters knew it, then to the influence 
of a good example they could add many lessons 
of instruction. These might be given in the way 
of natural, unstudied conversation, and thus be not 
only heard with attention, but sink deep. If the 
world is ever to be reformed, says Mr. Flint, in 
his Western Review, woman, sensible, enlightened, 
well educated and principled, must be the original 
mover in the great work. Every one who has 
considered well the extent and nature of female 
influence, will concur in the sentiment ; and if he 
have one remaining particle of devotion to the 
Father of spirits, he will send up the most fervent 
petitions to his throne of mercy in behalf of this 



312 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Emancipation of females. 

often depressed or enslaved half of the human 
race, that they may speedily be emancipated, and 
become as conspicuous in human redemption, as 
they have sometimes been in human condemna- 
tion. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 

Senses neglected. Extent to which they might be improved. 

Man is much less useful and happy in this 
world, than he would be if more pains were taken 
by parents and teachers, as well as by himself, 
to cultivate his senses — hearing, seeing, feeling, 
tasting and smeUing — -and to preserve their recti- 
tude. 

The extent to which the senses can be improved 
or exalted, can best be understood by observing 
how perfect they become when we are compelled 
to cultivate them. Thus the blind, who are 
obliged to cultivate hearing, feeling and smelling, 
often astonish us by the keenness of these senses,. 
They will distinguish * sounds — especially voices — 
which others cannot ; and with so much accuracy, 
as to remember for several years the voice of a per- 
son in a large company, which they hear but once. 
They will also distinguish small pieces of money, 
different fabrics and qualities of cloth, &c.; and, 
in walking, often ascertain, by the feeling of the 
air, or by other sensations, when they approach a 



314 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Case of Julia Brace. Other instances of educated senses. 

building, or any other considerable body. So the 
North American Indian, whose habits of hfe seem 
to require it, can hear the footsteps of an approach- 
ing enemy at distances which astonish us. So 
also the deaf and dumb are very keen-sighted, and 
generally make very accurate observations. Any 
reader who is sceptical in regard to the cultivation 
of the senses, would do well to consult the account 
of Juha Brace, the deaf and dumb and blind girl, 
as published in some of the early volumes of the 
^^ Annals of Education." 

But it is hardly necessary to resort to the blind, 
or to savages, or to the deaf and dumb, in order to 
prove man's susceptibility in this respect. We 
may be reminded of the same fact by observing 
wdth what accuracy the merchant tailor can dis- 
tinguish, by feeling, the quality of his goods ; how 
quick a painter, an engraver, or a printer, will dis- 
cover errors in painting or printing, which wholly 
escape ordinary readers or observers ;- and how 
quick the ear of a good musician \\i\\ discover the 
existence and origin of a discordant sound in his 
choir. 

Now I do not undertake to say or prove, that 
mankind would be better or happier for having 
their senses all cultivated in the highest possible 
degree ; though I am not sure that this would not 



EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 315 

Caps — how injurious. Cleanliness of the ears. 

be the case. But so long as a large proportion of 
our ideas enter our minds through the medium of 
the five senses, it is desirable that something should 
be done to perfect them, instead of overlooking 
the whole subject. What mothers ought to do in 
this matter, deserves, therefore, a brief considera- 
tion. 

Sec 1. Hearing. 

The suggestion, in another place, to keep away 
caps from the child's head, if duly attended to, is 
one means of perfecting, or at least of preserving 
the sense of hearing. For caps, by the heat they 
produce to a part which cannot safely endure an 
increase of temperature, greatly expose children to 
catarrhal affections ; and many a catarrh has laid 
the foundation for dullness of hearing, if not of 
actual deafness. 

The ears should be kept clean. If washed 
sufficiently often, and syringed once a w^eek with 
warm milk and water, or with very weak soap- 
suds, gently warmed, the cerumen or ear w^ax will 
hardly be found accumulated in such masses as to 
produce deafness. And yet such accumulations^ 
with such consequences, are by no means uncom- 
mon. It is not long since a young man with whom 



316 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Exercises with children. Music in schools. 

I am acquainted, applied to an eminent surgeon of 
Boston, on account of deafness in one ear, which 
had become quite troublesome, and as it was 
feared, incurable. Syringing with a large and 
strong syringe disengaged a large mass of cerumen, 
and hearing was immediately restored. 

Children should be taught to distinguish sounds 
with closed eyes or blindfolded. We may strike on 
various objects, and ask them to tell what we struck, 
&c. This will lead them to observe sounds ; and 
will perfect their hearing in a remarkable degree. 

There are also advantages to be derived from 
accustoming a child to a great variety of sounds ; 
both as regards their strength and character. But 
this must only be occasional ; for if the ear be 
constantly accustomed to sounds of any kind, and 
more especially those which are harsh or loud, the 
organ of hearing is liable to sustain injury. — Music, 
as it is now beginning to be taught to children in 
our schools, will do much, I think, to improve the 
faculty of hearing. 

Sec. 2. Seeing. 

The sight, says Addison, is the most perfect of 
all our senses; and this is unquestionably true. 
But it is more or less perfect, in different individ- 



EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 317 

Causes of near-sightedness. Too much heat. Fine print. 

uals, according to the early education they have 
received. Sometimes, it is true, we are born near 
or dim-sighted ; but such cases are comparatively 
rare. 

The question is sometimes asked why there are 
so many persons f5ow-a-daySj who lose their sight, 
become near-sighted, &;c. very young. It may be 
difficult to answer this question fully ; yet I cannot 
help thinking that the following are some of the 
causes: 

1, The great heat of our apartments, which, 
together with late hours and much lamp light, 
affects the eyes unpleasantly, is believed to be 
among the more prominent causes of early decay 
of sight. Formerly our apartments were neither 
so steadily nor so generally heated ; and we rose 
earlier, and consequently went to bed earlier. 

2. The fine print of a large proportion of our 
books, especially our school books, has done im- 
mense injury. I do not believe that reading fine 
print, occasionally, for a few moments at a time, or 
reading by a very strong or very weak light in the 
same way, does harm. On the contrary, I think 
it may strengthen and improve the sight. It is the 
long continuance of these things that does the mis- 
chief ; and the mischief thus done is immense. — I 
rejoice that printers and publishers are beginning 



318 THE YOUNG MOTHER, 

Spectacles. Reading when fatigued. Rubbing the eyes. 

of late to use much larger type than they have 
done for some years past. 

3. The early use of spectacles does mischief — I 
mean before they are needed. After they begin 
to be needed, there is no advantage in delaying to 
use them, as some do, for fear they shall wear 
them too soon. This is about as wise as the prac- 
tice of going cold to harden ourselves. 

4. Reading when we are fatigued, or ill, or have 
a very full stomach, is another way to injure the 
sight. 

5. Rubbing the eyes with the fingers, or with 
anything else, does inevitable mischief The Ger- 
mans have a proverb which says — '^ Never touch 
your eye, except with your elbow." There is 
much of good sense in it. 

In short, there are a thousand ways in which 
that delicate organ, the human eye, may sustain 
injury ; and nearly as many in which it may be 
strengthened, cultivated and improved. But my 
limits merely permit me to add, that the frequent 
but gentle application of water to the eye, several 
times a day, at such a temperature as is most agree- 
able — but cold, when it can be borne — ^is one of the 
best preservatives of sight which the world affords. 

Connected alike with physical and intellectual 
education, is the practice of measuring by the eye 



EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 319 

Benumbing- the senses. Customs of modern cookery. 

heights, distances, superficies and solids. It is not 
difficult to train the eye to an accuracy in this 
matter which would astonish the uninstructed. 



Sec. 3. Tasting and Smelling. 

I do not know that it is worth our while to take 
pains, by any direct methods, to cultivate the 
organs of taste or smell ; but I think it proper, a.t 
the least, to preserve their original/rectitude. 

Many, I know, undertake to say, that were it not 
for our errors in regard to food and drink, and were 
it not, in particular, for the multitude of strange 
mixtures which tend to benumb those two senses., 
we might determine the qualities of food and drink 
—whether they are favorable or adverse^ — by mean3 
of taste and smell, like the animals. But I do not 
beheve this. The Creator has substituted reasou 
in us for instinct in the brute animals. It is not 
necessary that we should possess the latter, when 
the former is so manifestly superior to it ; and ac-. 
cordingly I do not believe that it is given us, or 
any of that acuteness of sensation which exists in 
the dog, the tiger, the vulture, &:c.-^and which so 
closely resembles it. 

There can be no doubt — no reasonable doubt,, 
certainly — that the wretched customs of modem 



320 THE YOUNG MOTHER, 

The teeth. Their importance — uses. Slovenliness. 

cookery benumb the senses of taste and smell, 
more or less, and that high-seasoned food, condi- 
ments, and stimulating drinks do the same; and 
should, for this reason, were it for no other, be 
studiously avoided. 

Closely connected with the organ of taste are 
the TEETH. A volume might profitably be written 
on these — as on the eye. But I will only say that 
they should be kept perfectly clean, either by 
rinsing or brushing, or both, especially after eating; 
that they should be permitted to chew all our food, 
instead of merely standing by as silent spectators to 
the passage of that which is mashed, soaked, 
chopped, &LC. ; that they should not be picked or 
cleaned with pins, or other equally hard instru- 
ments ; that they should not be used to crack nuts, 
or other hard, indigestible substances ; and that the 
stomach, with which they are apt to sympathize 
very strongly, should also be kept in a good and 
healthy condition. 

Sec. 4. Feeling. 

Corpulence and slovenliness are generally among 
the more prolific sources of a want of acuteness in 
feehng. The first is a disease, and may be avoided 
by a proper diet, and by active mental and bodily 



EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 321 

Acuteness of touchy in the blind. How they read. 

employment. Slovenliness we may of course 
avoidj whenever there is a wish to do so, and an 
abundance of water. 

But the sense of feeling, or especially that ac- 
cumulation of it which w^e call touch, and which 
seems to be specially located in the balls of the 
fingers and on the palm of the hand, is susceptible 
of a degree of improvement far beyond what would 
be the natural result of cleanliness, and freedom 
from plethora or corpulence. 

I have already alluded, in my general remarks 
at the head of this chapter, to the acuteness of this 
sense in the blind, as well as in the dealer in 
cloths. I might add many more illustrations ; but 
a single one, in relation to the bhnd, which was 
accidentally omitted in that place, will be suiEcient. 

The blind at the Institution in this city, as well 
as in other similar institutions, are now taught to 
read and wTite with considerable facility. But 
how ? Most of my readers may have heard how 
they read, but I will describe the process as well as 
I can. A description of their method of wTiting is 
more difficult. 

The letters are formed by pressing the paper, 

while quite moist, upon rather large type, which 

raises a ridge in the line of every letter ; and which 

remains prominent after the paper is dry. In order 

21 



322 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 



Remarks on the hand. Universal neglect of the left hand. 

— — —^ — - 

to read, the pupil has to feel out these ridges. A 
circular ridge on the paper he is told is O ; a per- 
pendicular one, I ; a crooked one, S, &:c. They 
read music and arithmetic printed in a similar man- 
ner. -A few months of practice, in this way, will 
enable an ingenious youth to read with considera- 
ble ease and despatch. 

Now if nothing is wanting but a little training to 
render the touch so accurate, would it not be useful 
to train every child to judge frequently of the 
properties of bodies by this sense ? And cannot 
every one recall to his mind a thousand situations, 
in which a greater accuracy of this sense would 
have saved him much inconvenience, as well as 
afforded him no little pleasure ? 

I shall conclude this section with a few remarks 
on the Hand. The custom of neglecting, or almost 
neglecting the left hand, though nearly universal in 
this country at least, appears to me to be wrong — 
decidedly so. For although more blood may be 
sent to the right arm than to the left, as physiolo- 
gists say, yet the difference is not as great at birth 
as it is afterward ; so that education either weak- 
ens the one or strengthens the other. 

Besides this, we occasionally find a person who 
is left handed, as it is called ; that is, his left hand 
and arm are as much laro:er and strono:er than the 



EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. S23 

Physiology of the arms. May be strengthened by education. 

right, as the right is usually stronger than the left. 
How is this ? Do we find a corresponding change 
in the internal structure ? But suppose it could be 
ascertained that such a change did exist, which I 
believe has never been done, the question would 
still arise whether the difterence w^as the same at 
birth, or whether the more frequent use of the left 
hand has not, in part, produced it. 

I do not mean, here, to intimate, that a more 
frequent use of the left hand than the right would 
make new blood-vessels grow where there were 
none before. But it would certainly do one thing; 
it would make the same vessels carry more blood 
than they did before, which is, in effect, nearly the 
same thing : — for the more blood in the limb, as a 
general rule, the more strength ; — provided the 
limb is in due health and exercise. 

The inference which I wish the reader to make 
from all this is, that since the left hand and arm, by 
due cultivation, and without essential difference or 
change of structure to begin with, can occasionally 
be made stronger than the right, it is fair to con- 
clude that it may, if found desirable, be always 
rendered more nearly equal to it than, in adult 
years, we usually find it. 

The question is now fairly before us — Is such a 
result desirable ? I maintain that it is ; and shall 
endeavor to show my reasons. 



324 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Using- both hands. Reasons why both hands should be used. 

How often is one hand injured by an accident, 
or rendered nearly useless by disease ! But if it 
should be the right, how helpless it makes us ! 
The man who is accustomed to shave himself, must 
now resort to a barber. If he is a barber himself, 
or almost any other mechanic, his business must be 
discontinued. Or if he is a clerk, he cannot use his 
left hand, and must consequently lose his time. 
Or if amputation chances to be performed on a 
favorite arm, how entirely useless to society we are, 
till we have learned to use the other ! It not only 
takes up a great deal of valuable time to acquire a 
facility of using it, but if we are already arrived at 
maturity, we can never use it so well as the other, 
during our whole lives ; because it is too late in 
life to increase its size and strength much by con- 
stant exercise. Whereas in youth, it might have 
been done easily. 

Is it not then important — for these and many 
more reasons — to teach a child to use with nearly 
equal readiness, both of his hands ? But if. so, 
who can do it better than the mother ? And when 
can it be better done than in the earliest infancy ? 
When is the time which would be devoted to it, 
worth less than at this period ? 



CHAPTER XX. 



ABUSES. 



Abuses of the young in families and schools. 



It is difficult to determine, in regard to many 
things which concern the management of the 
young, whether they belong most properly to moral 
or physical education ; so close is the connection 
between the two, and so decidedly does every- 
thing, or nearly everything which relates to the 
management of the body, have a bearing upon the 
formation of moral character. This work might 
be extended very much farther, did it comport 
with my original plan. But I hasten to close the 
volume with a few thoughts on certain abuses of 
the body, which prevail to a greater or less extent 
in families and schools ; and to which I have not 
adverted elsewhere. 

The seats of children are usually bad, both at 
table and elsewhere. It seems not enough that 
we condemn them to the use of knives, forks, 
spoons, he, of the same size with those of adults. 
We go farther, and give them chairs of the same 



326 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Chairs and seats too high. Sabbath school a relief. Why. 

height and proportion with our own. There are 
a few exceptions to the truth of this remark. Here 
and there we see a child's chair, it is true ; but 
not often. 

But how unreasonable is it to seat a child in a 
chair so high that his feet cannot reach the floor ; 
and so constructed that there is no other place on 
which the feet can rest. What adult would be 
wilHng to sit in so painful a posture, with his legs 
dangling! No wonder children dislike to sit much, 
in such circumstances. And it is a great blessing 
to both parent and child that they do. No wonder 
children hate the Sabbath ; especially in those 
families where they are compelled to keep the 
day holy by sitting motionless ! Sabbath schools, 
though they bring with them some evil along with 
a great deal of good, are a relief to the young in 
this particular ; especially if their seats are more 
comfortable elsewhere than at home. They con- 
sider it much more tolerable to spend the morning 
and intermission of the day in going to and return- 
ing from Sabbath school, than in constant and close 
confinement. They prefer variety, and the occa- 
sional light and air of heaven, to monotony and 
seclusion and silence. 

It happens, however, that the seats at the Sab- 
bath school and at church, are not always what 



ABUSES. 327 

Seats at church. At school. Extraordinary abuses. 



they should be; nor, so far as church is concerned, 
do I see that this evil can be wholly avoided. 
Children usually sit v^ith their parents, in the sanc- 
tuary ; and they ought to do so : and the height of 
the seats cannot, of course, accommodate both. — 
If there is a buildino; erected solelv for the use of 
the Sabbath school, the seats may be constructed 
accordingly, without seriously incommoding any- 
body ; but in the church I do not see, as I have 
once before observed, how the evil can be reme- 
died. 

The greatest trouble in regard to seats, however, 
is at the day school ; especially in our district or 
common schools. There, it is usual for children 
to be confined six hours a day — and sometimes two 
in succession — to hard, narrow, plank seats, a large 
proportion of which are without backs, and raised 
so high that the feet of most of the pupils cannot 
possibly touch the floor. There, "- suspended," 
as I have said in another work,^ " between the 
heavens and the earth, they are compelled to 
remain motionless for an hour or an hour and a 
half together." 

I have also shown, in the same essay^ that in 
regard to the desks, and indeed many other things 

* See a " Prize Essay " on School Houses, page 7. 



328 THE YOUNG MOTHER, 



Cushions objected to. Seats with backs. Height of seats. 

which pertain to, or are connected with the 
school, very little pains is taken to provide for the 
physical welfare or even comfort of the pupils; 
and that a thorough reform on the subject appears 
to me indispensable. 

When I speak of hard plank seats, let me not 
be understood as hinting at the necessity of cush- 
ions. When I wrote the essay above mentioned, 
I did indeed believe that they were desirable. 
But I am now opposed to their use, either by chil- 
dren or adults, even where a laborious employ- 
ment would seem to demand a long confinement 
to this awkward and unnatural position. If our 
seats are cushioned, we shall sit too easily. I 
believe that our health requires a hard seat; 
because its very hardness inclines us to change, 
frequently, our position. 

But if we must sit, be it never so short a time, 
our seats should always have backs ; and those 
which are designed for children, should not be so 
high as to reader them uncomfortable. Nor should 
the backs of seats be so high as they usually are, 
either for children or adults. They should never 
come much higher than the middle of the body. 
If they reach the shoulders, they either favor a 
crouching forward, or interfere with the free action 
of the lungs. 



ABUSES. 329 



Abuses in manufactories. Thoughts on by-g^one days. 

This might be deemed a proper place for saying 
something on the position of children in manufac- 
tories. But here a world of abuse opens upon my 
view, the full development of which demands a 
large volume. How many crooked spines, ema- 
ciated bodies, decaying lungs, as well as scrofulas, 
fevers and consumptions, are either induced or 
accelerated by these unnatural employments ! I 
mean, they are unnatural for the young. As to 
employing adults in them, I have nothing at present 
to say. But when I think of the cruel custom of 
placing children in these places, whose bodies — 
and, were this the place, I might add minds — are 
immature, and especially girls, I am compelled, by 
the voice of conscience, and, as I trust, by a regard 
to those laws which God has established in our 
physical frames, but which are yet so strangely 
violated, to protest against it. Better that no fac- 
tories should exist, than that children should be 
ruined in them as they now are. Better by far that 
we should return, were it possible, to the primitive 
habits of New England — to those by-gone days 
when mothers and daughters mad^ the wearing 
apparel of themselves and their families ; when, if 
there was less of intellectual cultivation, and less 
money expended for luxuries and extravagances, 
there was much more of health and happiness. 



330 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

Bodily punishments. Blows on the head. Making idiots. 

There is one more species of abuse to which, 
in closing, I wish to direct maternal attention. I 
allude to injudicious modes of inflicting corporal 
punishment. 

Let me not be understood to appear, in this 
place, as the advocate of bodily punishments of 
any Idnd ; for if they are even admissible under 
some circumstances, I am fully convinced that in 
the way in which they are now commonly admin- 
istered, they do much more of harm than good. 

But leaving the question of their utility, in 
the abstract, wholly untouched, and taking it for 
granted, for the present, that they are — as is un- 
doubtedly the fact — sometimes employed, and will 
continue to be so for a great while to come, I 
proceed to speak of their more flagrant abuses. 

Among these, none are more reprehensible than 
blows of any kind on the head. Even the rod 
is objectionable for this purpose, since it exposes 
the eyes. But the hand — in boxing the ears or 
striking in any way — is moje so. The bones of 
the head, in young children, are not yet firmly 
knit together, and these concussions may injure the 
tender brain. I know of whole families, whose 
mental faculties are dull, as the consequence — I 
believe — of a perpetual boxing and striking of the 
head. Some individuals are made almost idiots, in 



ABUSES. 331 

Beating- the region of the vital organs. Shocking anecdote. 

this very manner. — But the worst is not yet told. 
Many teachers are in the habit of striking their 
pupils' heads with thick heavy books, and with 
wooden rules. I have seen one of the latter, of 
considerable size and thickness, broken in two 
across the head of a very small boy ; and this too 
— such is the public mind — in the presence of a 
mother who was paying a visit to the school. I 
have seen parents and masters strike the heads 
of their children with pieces of wood of much 
larger size; — in one instance, with a common sized 
tailor's press-board ; in another, with the heavy 
end of a wooden whip-handle, about an inch in 
diameter. 

Children are sometimes severely beaten across 
the middle of the body — the region where lie the 
vital organs — the lungs, the heart, the liver, &:c. 
They are sometimes beaten, too, across the joints, 
or in any place that the excited, perhaps passion- 
ate teacher or parent can reach. Rules and books 
are thrown with violence at pupils in school. 
There is a story in the '^ Annals of Education," 
Vol. IV. at page 28, of a teacher who threw a 
rule at a little boy, six years old, which struck him 
with great force, within an inch of one of his eyes. 
Had it struck a little nearer to his nose, it would, 
in all probability, have destroyed his left eye. 



332 THE YOUNG MOTHER. 

■ ' ««V. I ' II.. ■ ^ ■ . 

Duty of mothers in regard to physical education. 

But without extending these remarks any far- 
ther, every intelHgent mother who reads what I 
have already written, will see, as I tmst, the 
necessity of properly informing herself on the great 
subject of physical education ; and of being better 
prepared than she has hitherto been, for acquitting 
herself, with satisfaction, of those high and sacred 
responsibilities which, in the wise arrangements of 
Nature and Providence, devolve upon her. 



BOOKS AND PERIODICAL WORKS 

PUBLISHED BY 

LIGHT & STEARNS, 

1 CORNHILL, BOSTON. 
THE BOSTON BOOK, being specimens of Metropolitan 

Literature. This work is executed in tlie best style, and contains a 
handsome copperplate engraving. 

THE STRANGER'S GIFT, a Christmas and New Year's 

Present. By Hermann Borum, Instructor in Harvard University. 
Executed in the best manner, with a copperplate engraving of the Get- 
man " Christmas Tree." 

SLAVERY AND THE DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADE 

IN THE UNITED STATES. By Professor E. A. Andrews. Being 
the first Publication of the American Union for the Relief and Improve- 
ment of the Colored Race. 

REMAINS OF MELVILLE B. COX, (First MethodisI 

Missionary to Africa,) with a MEMOIR. Published under the superin- 
tendence of his brother, Gershom F. Cox. Containing a copperplate 
likeness, «Scc. 

THE PARENT'S PRESENT, edited by the author of 

Peter Parley's Tales. With Cuts. A beautiful present for youth. 

MEMOIR AND POEMS OF PHILLIS WHEATLEY. 

Dedicated to the Friends of the Africans. The Poems from the best 

English edition. 

MEMOIR OF REV. S. OSGOOD WRIGHT, Jate Mis- 

sionary to Liberia. By B. B. Thatcher. With a Portrait. 

PROSE SKETCHES AND POEMS, written in the Wes- 
tern Country. By Albert Pike. Both the Prose and the Poetry of 
^is book are descriptive of the Western Country. Written in the 
prairie and among the mountains. 

MEMOIR OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. By Thomas 

Price. First American Edition. 



834 LIGHT AND STEARNs' PUBLICATIONS. 



THE CARPENTER AND HIS FAMILY: also,PR1DE 

SUBDUED. By the Author of the " Black Velvet Bracelet," &c. 

JANE BAILEY, or Recollections of a Home Missionary. 

With a cut. 

TEMPERANCE ANECDOTES, AND INTERESTING 

FACTS. Selected by the Author of a History of the Temperanee 
Reformation. With Cuts. 

WOOD S IMPROVED TABLES OF DISCOUNT, cor- 
rectly calculated upon any sum from Id. to £200, at from 1-4 to 90 per 
cent., with several other useful Tables. 

SKETCHES FROM SACRED HISTORY; containing 

the Story of the Moabitess, the Story of the Glueen, and the Story of 
the Priest. With a cut. 

WILL SOON BE PUBLISHED, 

THE HOUSE I LIVE IN— second edition : a popular 

work for the Young, on the structure of the Human Body, by Dr. Alcott. 
It will be improved and enlarged by the author, and, like the first edition, 
will, we trust, be favorably received. We believe there is no othjer work 
to be fourtd on the subject of Anatomy, which is adapted to the wants of 
children in families and schools. 



03^ N. B. — Besides our own Publications, we keep on 
band a general assortment of BOOKS AND STATIONARY. All Dr. 
Alcott's works, especially the YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE, can be furnished 
in any quantity, at the publishers' lowest prices. We intend to be con- 
■tantly well supplied with all works relating to Moral, Intellectual and 
Physical Self-Education. 



LIGHT AND STEAENs' PUBLICATIONS. 335 



MORAL REFORMER, 

AND 

TEACHER ON THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION. 

Monthly — Price, $1 a year, in advance. 



EDITED BY DR. ALCOTT, 

Author of the " Young Man's Guide," the " Young Mother," &.c. 



The first volume of this work, containing 384 pages, being 
completed, can be had for $1.25, neatly bound and lettered. The perma- 
nency of the work is now beyond all doubt, and the publishers believe It 
may properly be ranked among the standard periodicals of the country. 
No eiFort or expense is spared on their part, or that of the Editor, to 
render it extensively beneficial, in promoting health of body and peace of 
mind. It has recently been highly approved by GEORGE COMBE, 
author of " The Constitution of Man," as well as by a large number of 
distinguished men of this country, among whom are the following: 

Dr. John C. Warren, Dr. S. B Woodward, Rev. Dr. Humphrey, Rev. 
S. R. Hall, Rev. Hubbard Winslow, Rev. R. Anderson, Rev. Baron Stow, 
Rev. B. B. Wisner, R. H. Gillet, Esq., Rev. Wm. Hague, Roberts Vaux, 
Esq., Dr. John M. Keagy, Dr. R. D. Mussey, Prof. E. A. Andrews, Rev. 
L. F. Clark, Rev. M. M. Carll, Rev. Dr. Fay. 

These recommendations are similar to the following, received from Dr. 
Warren : 

"The Moral Reformer is, in my opinion, an excellent publication. It 
■eems to be wel! adapted to aid in the great reform in habits and customs 
which is now going on in this country and Great Britain ; and which, it may 
be hoped, will extend to other parts of the world. I beg leave to recom- 
mend this little work to all who are desirous of promoting their health of 
body and tranquillity of mind." 

Many of the most respectable Journals in the country, have also given 
their testimony in its favor. The following are a very lew of them : 

Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Annals of Education, Abbott's 
Religious Magazine, Boston Recorder, Christian "Watchman, Zion's 
Herald, New York Farmer. 

We feel entire confidence in offering this publication to all who are 
mterested in the improvemeni which Dr. Alcott is endeavoring to promole. 



336 LIGHT AND STEARNs' PUBLICATIONS. ^ ^ L 

SCIENTIFIC TRACTS, -" 

FOR THE 

DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. 

THIRD SERIES. 

Monthhj — $1 a Volume, in advance. 

This valuable work has lately passed into our hands. Be- 
lieving it to be better suited to the design of the work, we have concluded 
to make each Tract consist of a well-executed treatise upon a single subject, 
(except a short summary of scientific intelligence, notices, &.c., at thb 
close) — thus bringing the work back to the plan on which it was originally 
conducted. Some of the best Scientific and Literary writers in the coun- 
try are already engaged, and none will be employed who are not fully 
competent to do justice to their subjects. From fifteen to thirty dollars 
will be paid for the composition of each Tract. 

This work is so well known, and has been so highly approved of in every 
part of the country, that further recommendation is unnecessary. Seven 
Tolumes of it have been published, and we believe it is generally ranked 
among the firmest standard periodicals. We have only to say, that still 
more liberal arrangements have been made to secure the best writers, and 
to improve the work in every respect, than were ever made before. 

A few complete sets of the First and Second Series can be had at the 
subscription price, bound. 



PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT^. . 

L. & S. have a well furnished Printing Office connected with their 
concern, where they can execute orders in all the branches ^of Printing, 
in the best style. Particular attention paid to Card and other Letter Press 
Printing. 

They are grateful for past favors, and respectfully solicit a continuance 
of the patronage of their friends and the public generally, in both depart- 
ments of their business. . 



LIBRARY 0*',,.^,J?S^^ 

022 216 367 5 



